TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1697, the “Treaty of Ryswick” was signed. France returned Hudson Bay and Newfoundland to Britain, in return for Acadia.

In 1867, the first general election in Canada, won by the Conservatives under Sir John A. Macdonald, was completed. Confederation, achieved earlier in the year, had set out the mandate for the formation of a federal government to unite the four provinces in the Dominion at the time. Macdonald formed a coalition cabinet almost equally split between Liberal and Conservative ministers and representing different regions, religions and cultures.

In 1917, the Wartime Elections Act was passed, giving the vote to some Canadian women and disenfranchising many citizens born in enemy countries. The act gave wives, mothers and sisters of men in the armed service the right to vote. In May 1918, all women gained the vote.

In 1932, Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi began a fast to dramatize his campaign for an end to discrimination against the lowest social class in India, known as the untouchables. Gandhi’s fast ended six days later when the “Pact of Poona” was passed, allowing the untouchables entrance to all temples and schools and the use of all Indian roads.

In 1973, in their so-called battle of the sexes, tennis player Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets (6-4, 6-3, 6-3) at the Houston Astrodome.

In 1984, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was attacked by a suicide bomber who drove into the compound with a truckload of explosives and set them off, killing 40 people.

In 2005, David Radler, Conrad Black’s newspaper holding company’s ex-chief operating officer, agreed to a jail term and a US$250,000 fine in a deal with the U.S. Attorney for pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud in a scheme to pilfer more than US$32 million from Hollinger International Inc.