1001 - The Viking explorer Leif Ericson reaches America.
1492 - Christopher Columbus crosses the Atlantic Ocean for the Queen of Castile (later, Spain).
1497 - John Cabot reaches the island of Newfoundland, which he claims for England
1534 - On July 24, Jacques Cartier plants a cross on Gaspé peninsula and claims it for France.
1535 - Jacques Cartier's expedition sails along the St. Lawrence River in and stops in a little bay he names baie Saint-Lawrence on August 10.
1535 - On September 6, Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the "île aux Coudres".
1541 - Jacques Cartier builds the Charlesbourg-Royal fort, the first permanent European settlement in North America, near the Cap-Rouge River and the St. Lawrence River.
1603 - Samuel de Champlain takes possession of lands he calls Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland) and Acadie (Acadia).
1606 - Marc Lescarbot put on the first European theatrical production in North America. It was called Le Théâtre de Neptune.
1607 - On May 14, Captain Christopher Newport founds the first English colony on lands of the Paspahegh Indians in what they called America: Jamestown, Virginia.
1608 - Sponsored by Henry IV of France, Samuel de Champlain founds Québec City on July 3.
1609 - Champlain joins a military expedition against the Iroquois. The Hurons and their French allies are victorious.
1613 - Acadia is taken by the troops of Samuel Argall.
1629 - On July 16, three brothers, David, Louis, and Thomas Kirke take Québec.
1632 - Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on March 29. Acadia and Québec are given back to France.
1635 - Samuel de Champlain dies on December 25.
1641 - Beginning of the French and Iroquois Wars on June 13.
1647 - Creation of the Conseil de Québec on March 27.
1648 - Beginning of the genocide of the Huron peoples by the Iroquois confederacy.
1648 - The Huron country is destroyed and fleeing Hurons are relocated to Ile d'Orleans with the help of governor d'Ailleboust.
1653 - The population of Québec now stands at 2,000.
1663 - François de Laval founds the Séminaire de Québec, now known as the Université Laval.
1663 - Election of Jean-Baptiste Legardeur de Repentigny, the first mayor of Québec City on October 17.
1665 - The new governor de Mézy dies of sickness in Québec City.
1666 - A census conducted by Jean Talon in the winter of 1665-1666 showed a population of 3,215 French inhabitants residing in New France.
1666 - During the autumn, the soldier of Carignan-Salières, led by Alexandre de Prouville, the "Marquis de Tracy" and the governor, invade the Iroquois territory to the south, burn their villages and destroy their crops. See French and Iroquois Wars.
1667 - Signing of a peace treaty with the defeated Iroquois.
1682 - René Robert Cavalier de La Salle takes possession of the basin of the Mississippi river for the king of France.
1692 - Marie-Madeleine Jarret de Verchères becomes a hero in New France for defending a fort against the Iroquois while waiting for French Army reinforcements.
1701 - August 4 : Signing of the Great Peace of Montreal between 39 First Nation tribes and the French Colonial government.
1704 - February 29 - Deerfield Massacre: French forces from Québec and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attack the village of Deerfield, Massachusetts. They raze the town and kill 56 colonists, including 25 children. They take 109 prisoners, only about 60 of whom eventually make it back to New England.
1712 - New France extends from Newfoundland to Lake Superior and from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
1713 - French colonists in all of North America number about twelve thousand, while British colonists numbered almost one million.
1720 - Québec City is fortified by the King of France.
1731 - Beginning of the construction of the Chemin du roy between Québec City and Montreal.
1745 - The fortress of Louisbourg falls to the English.
1748 - Signature of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle on October 17.
1754 - A census shows the population of New France to be 55,009 while in Britain's Thirteen Colonies it has reached 1,170,800.
1754 - Beginning of the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France for control of the North American colonies. It is part of the Seven Years' War.
1755 - Beginning of the Acadian Expulsion on July 28.
1756 - New commander of the French troops Louis-Joseph de Montcalm arrives in Québec City and is made subordinate of governor Vaudreuil.
1756 - August 29, beginning of the Seven Years' War in Europe.
1759 - Beginning of the Québec City siege on July 12.
1759 - On September 13, the British troops of James Wolfe defeat the French troops of Montcalm in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Québec City.
1759 - On September 18, Québec City surrenders. The government of New France moves to Montreal.
1760 - French-Canadian Forces defeat the British on the Plains of Abraham on April 26.
1760 - On May 9, British ships arrive at Québec City, forcing the French Army back to Montreal.
1760 - The Battle of Restigouche in what is now the Province of New Brunswick, is the last battle between France and Britain for possession of Canada, during the Seven Years' War.
1760 - On September 8, Montreal capitulates. Governor Vaudreuil surrenders to the British army on the terms of a treaty of capitulation.
1763 - The Seven Years' War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10. France gives the northerly portion of New France to the British in favor of keeping Guadaloupe.
1763 - In May, Indian Chief Pontiac leads a series of raids against British trade posts.
1763 - With the October 7 Royal Proclamation by the British Parliament, the area then referred to by the natives as Canada is renamed the Province of Québec.
1764 - William Brown and Thomas Gilmore publish the first edition of The Québec Gazette / La Gazette de Québec on June 21.
1764 - On September 17, civil courts are established, ending the military rule of the Province of Québec which had been in place during the Seven Years' War.
1764 - The Government in Great Britain denies the request by British colonial merchants that the French civil code be replaced by British common law and that a House of Assembly be created for Anglophone Protestants alone.
1764 - On October 29, 94 "Canadien" merchants submit a first petition requesting that the orders of the King be available in the French language and that they be allowed to participate in the government.
1765 - The population of the Province of Québec is 69,810.
1773 - In December, French speaking landlords of the Colonial Province of Québec submit a petition and a memoir to the Parliament of Great Britain requesting they be granted the same rights and privileges of the other British subjects.
1774 - On June 13, the British Parliament enacts the Québec Act (which guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith and upheld the continued use of the French civil law for private matters while maintaining the use of the English common law for public administration), effective as of May 1, 1775.
1774 - The First Continental Congress issues its Articles of Association condemning the Québec Act for creating an "arbitrary government," and disposing "the inhabitants to act with hostility against the free Protestant colonies, whenever a wicked ministry shall chuse so to direct them."
1775 - Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold take Fort Ticonderoga on May 9, Fort Crown Point on May 11, and Fort St. Jean on May 18.
1775 - On May 29, the American Continental Congress writes a Letter to the Inhabitants of Canada inviting them to join in the revolution.
1775 - Montreal capitulates to the Americans on November 13.
1775 - The troops of American Richard Montgomery are defeated before Québec City on December 31. Montgomery dies and, in a strange twist of history, is buried with honor by the British.
1776 - United States Declaration of Independence signed on July 4.
1781 - Major Clément Gosselin a québécker from La Pocatière defeats the English at Yorktown helped by the Admiral Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil who is the nephew of Pierre Vaudreuil of Montréal.
1784 - The population of the Province of Québec is 113,012.
1784 - A group of 2291 Colonial petitioners formally request that the Parliament of Britain create of a House of Assembly for the Province of Québec for all citizens without regard to nationality or religion.
1789 - The French Revolution begins on July 14 with the storming of the Bastille.
1789 - On October 20, William Wyndham Grenville writes a confidential letter to Lord Dorchester in which he recommends that the latter makes concessions regarding the government of the Province of Québec rather than letting things go until the residents of the colony rebel.
1790 – The Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution marks the beginning of a sharp tightening of the powers and influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Québec that would last until 1960.
1792 - The first elections of Lower Canada are held on June 11.
1792 - The first session of the Parliament of Lower Canada opens on December 17.
1793 - Language debate at the Legislative Assembly of Québec on January 21.
1793 - France declares war on England on February 8.
1793 - In October, there are rumors that a French fleet is coming to retake Canada.
1798 - Beginning of Irish immigration to Canada.
1803 - Napoleon sells the Louisiana territory to the United States.
1805 - Foundation of The Québec Mercury (newspaper) by Thomas Cary, supporter of the British Tories.
1805 - Joseph-Octave Plessis becomes Bishop of Québec.
1806 - Pierre-Stanislas Bédard and François Blanchet, members of the Parti Canadien, found the newspaper Le Canadien. .
1808 - On February 1, the Legislative Assembly of Québec criticizes the swearing-in of Ezekiel Hart because he is of Jewish faith.
1808 - The Legislative Assembly votes the expulsion of Ezekiel Hart on February 20.
1808 - On June 14, the owners of the newspaper Le Canadien were demoted from their functions in the government.
1810 - On February 23, the Legislative Assembly of Québec votes to expel the Member of Parliament and Judge Pierre-Amable de Bonne.
1810 - On March 10, Jonathan Sewell and Pierre-Amable de Bonne found the newspaper Le Vrai Canadien which defends the policies of the government.
1810 - On March 17, governor James Craig stops the press of Le Canadien and arrests its owners on charges of treasonous writings .
1812 - War of 1812: Second American invasion of Canada.
1818 - The frontier between British North America and the United States is established at the 49th northern parallel.
1825 - Opening of the Lachine Canal.
1828 - On December 12, Daniel Tracey founds the newspaper The Irish Vindicator and Canada General Advertiser, which became The Montreal Vindicator soon after.
1829 - McGill University begins instruction in 1829 with the Faculty of Medicine.
1832 - Following the 1808 expulsion of the duly-elected Jew Ezekiel Hart from the Legislative Assembly of Québec, the assembly passes a law giving full political rights to the Jewish citizens of Lower Canada, a first in the British Empire and some 27 years before Great Britain itself. .
1833 - The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.
1834 - Foundation of the loyalist Québec Constitutional Association.
1834 - The Parti patriote is elected with a strong majority of the registered vote taking 77 of 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Québec.
1837 - On November 8, General John Colborne begins to recruit volunteers for militias which are placed under the command of lieutenant-colonel Dyer.
1837 - On November 16, Lord Gosford orders the arrest of 26 patriot leaders on charges of high treason.
1837 - On November 23 British courier, Lieutenant George Weir was sadistically murdered at Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu by the Fils de la Liberté.
1837 - Battle of Saint-Denis on November 23.
1837 - Battle of Saint-Charles on November 25.
1837 - Rebels take control of Saint-Eustache on November 30.
1837 - Proclamation of martial law in the district of Montreal on December 5.
1837 - 80 rebels are forced to retreat at Moore's Corner near the American border on December 6.
1837 - On December 13, General John Colborne, Lord Seaton, leaves Montreal for Saint-Eustache leading 1,300 men.
1837 - Battle of Saint-Eustache on December 14.
1837 - The British troops burn the village of Saint-Benoît.
1838 - February 26, Robert Nelson, General of the rebels, gathers between 600 and 700 volunteers, the Frères Chasseurs and American sympathizers who try to invade Lower Canada.
1838 - Robert Nelson proclaims the independence of Lower Canada in Week's House on February 28.
1838 - The Constitutional Act is suspended on March 27. A Special Council is formed by London.
1838 - The envoy of the British government, John George Lambton, Lord of Durham, arrives in Québec City on May 27.
1838 - Proclamation of amnesty for all prisoners, except eight who are exiled to Bermuda, on June 28.
1838 - New proclamation of martial law on November 4.
1838 - Battle of Lacolle on November 7.
1838 - Battle of Odelltown on November 9. End of the Lower Canada Rebellion.
1839 - Following a trial for treason and murder, 12 Patriote rebels were hung at the Pied-du-Courant Prison on February 15.
1841 - The Act of Union governing British North America, passed by the British Parliament, takes effect.
1848 - Article 41 of the Union Act is amended. It is now legal to use the French language in the Parliament and in the Courts.
1849 - The first responsible government was instituted, under the Liberal coalition of Robert Baldwin from Canada West and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine of Canada East. The first Prime Minister of United Canada is Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine.
1849 - On April 25, The Parliament of Canada passes the Rebellion Losses Bill to compensate people who suffered property damage during the Rebellions of 1837 in Lower Canada. The bill compensated everyone, including the rebels and as a result, protestors caused a riot that forced the military to step in. A fire was started and the Parliament of Canada buildings in Montreal were burned down.
1849 - On October 11, an Annexation Manifesto, supported by both English speaking and French speaking Canadians, calling for the Province of Canada to join the United States is published in the Montreal Gazette.
1850 - Beginning of the French-Canadian emigration from Québec to the United States.
1851 - The first official census confirms that the population of Canada West is now numerically superior to that of Canada East.
1864 - Québec Conference of 1864 held to discuss Canadian Confederation which will lead to the creation of the Dominion of Canada.
1867 - Following the Great Coalition, upon the request of its colonial representatives their British North America Act is passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. Rather than remain a colony of Great Britain, the citizens of Québec vote to join with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario to create the nation of Canada.
1867 - Québec general election: In August, the first provincial elections are held under the British North America Act. The Bleus (Conservatives) support the confederation while the Rouges (Liberals) oppose it. 55% of Québecers vote in favor of the new Confederation of Canada while 45% oppose.
1871 - Québec general election: Conservatives win. .
1875 - Québec general election: Conservatives win.
1878 - Québec general election: Conservatives win one more seat than the Liberals, but Liberal Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière nonetheless remains premier.
1879 - The rules of ice hockey are established by three McGill students.
1881 - Québec general election: Conservatives win.
1886 - Québec general election: Liberals win, but Conservative minority government remains in office for a few more months.
1886 - The first transcanadian train leaves Montreal for Vancouver in British Columbia.
1887 - Honoré Mercier, leader of the Parti national (Liberals), becomes premier of Québec. The name "Parti National" is soon abandoned and the party calls itself the Liberal party.
1890 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1891 - Québec premier Honoré Mercier removed from office by Lieutenant-Governor Auguste-Réal Angers after being accused of corruption. The following year he is cleared of all charges.
1892 - Québec general election: Conservatives win.
1896 - Wilfrid Laurier, born in Saint-Lin, Québec becomes the first Québecer to be elected Prime Minister of Canada.
1897 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1898 - The Parliament of Canada passes the Québec Boundary Extension Act, 1898 extending the northern boundary of the province of Québec to the Eastmain River.
1899 - The Second Boer War erupts in South Africa. Some English Canadians are willing to participate in support of Great Britain, while most Québecers are opposed. This foreshadowed the Conscription Crisis of 1917 and the Conscription Crisis of 1944.
1900 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1904 - Henri Bourassa pleads in favor of bilingualism in the institutions of the federal government.
1904 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1907
- The Québec Bridge, under
construction, collapses.
1908
- Québec general election: Liberals
win.
1912
- The Parliament of Canada passes
Québec Boundaries Extension Act
that extends the northern boundary
of the province of Québec to
Hudson Strait.
1912 - Ontario limits the teaching in French to grades one and two of elementary school with Regulation 17.
1912 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1914 - Beginning of First World War.
1916 - English becomes the only authorized language of instruction in Manitoba. The province's sizeable French-speaking population is forced to attend English schools until 1970.
1916
- Québec general election:
Liberals win.
1917
- There are riots in Québec as
the federal government enforces
conscription.
1918
- Liberal Member of the Legislative
Assembly of Québec Joseph-Napoléon
Francoeur presents a motion demanding
the independence of Québec.
1918 - Lionel Groulx, becomes the first priest to publicly denounce what he considers injustices against French speakers. He denounces the unilingual English face of Montreal, the absence of bilingual coins and bank notes, and the absence of French in Ottawa, the federal capital.
1918 - Women win the right to vote in Canadian federal elections. All provinces follow suit by 1922 except Québec, which does not give women the right to vote in provincial elections until 1940.
1919 - On May 8, the branch of Université Laval built in Montreal in 1878 becomes autonomous and is renamed Université de Montréal.
1919 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1922
- Joseph-Armand Bombardier
engineers the first prototype
of a snowmobile, the Snowdog.
The first fully operational
unit will be assembled in 1935.
1922
- Montreal radio station CKAC
begins broadcasting, the first
radio station in Québec.
1923
- Québec general election: Liberals
win.
1927
- Québec general election: Liberals
win.
1927
- Following Canada's dispute
with Great Britain, the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council
rules on the border between the
Labrador territory and the Province
of Québec.
1928
-
The
Judicial
Committee
of
the
Privy
Council
decides
that
women
in
Canada
are
legal "persons."
1929 - October stock market crash on Wall Street heralds the start of the Great Depression.
1931 - "Shadows on the Rock", a book by eminent American author Willa Cather (1931) describes French-Canadian Roman Catholic life in 17th-century Québec.
1931 - The Statute of Westminster provided that all existing dominions of the British Empire, and all new dominions created thereafter, were fully independent of the United Kingdom so that the British Parliament no longer had legislative authority over them. The exceptions were Newfoundland, which was already showing signs of collapse (the Newfoundland dominion government was suspended in 1935 and direct rule from London was instituted until Newfoundlanders voted to join Canada in 1949); and the Dominion of Canada, which had specifically requested exclusion from the independence provisions of the Statute of Westminister because the federal and provincial governments could not agree on an amending formula for the Canadian constitution.
1931 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1935 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1936
- The Vimy Ridge Memorial opens
in honor of the thousands of
Canadians who died on the battlefields
of France.
1936
- The federal government of Canada
starts printing bilingual currency.
1936
- Québec general election:
Union Nationale wins.
1938 - The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society raised a petition of 128,000 names, demanding further restrictions on Jews in Canada.
1939 - Canada's participation in World War II begins: Canada declares war on Germany on September 10.
1939 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1939 - Québec adopts the motto Je me souviens (I remember).
1939 To 1945 - Volunteer army and air force units from Québec — some francophone, some anglophone — fight with merit in Europe.
The 1940s brings the era of the Duplessis Orphans.
1940
- After many years of battle
by suffragettes, Québec women
are allowed to vote and run
for office in provincial
elections.
1940
- Camillien Houde, mayor of Montreal,
is arrested for his public countenancing
of the men of Québec to ignore
the government's National Registration
Act. He is interned until 1944.
1940
- France falls to Germany.
1942 - Referendum on conscription. Québec votes against conscription a second time; the rest of Canada votes in favor
1943 - Compulsory education law is adopted.
1943 - Québec City conference between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill on August 14.
1944 - June 6 - Canadian soldiers land at Juno Beach on D-Day, marking the beginning of the liberation of France.
1944 - Québec general election: Union Nationale wins.
1947 - July 23: Mae O'Connor, widow of Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly Dennis James O'Connor, unsuccessfully runs as the first female candidate in a Québec election.
1948
- Adoption of a new Flag
of Québec on January 21.
Until this time, the Union
Flag had flown over the Legislative
Assembly.
1948
- Québec general election: Union
Nationale wins.
1948
- Paul-Émile Borduas, Jean-Paul
Riopelle and other Québec artists
publish the Refus global which
denounces artistic and moral
conformity in Québec.
1948
- Louis St. Lawrence, born in
Compton, Québec, becomes Prime
Minister of Canada.
1949
- Albert Guay affair: one of
the first in-flight airplane
bombings in history results in
the death of all 23 persons on
board.
1949
-
Asbestos
strike
in
the
towns
of
Asbestos
and
Thetford
Mines,
a
turning
point
in
labor
relations.
1952 - Québec general election: Union Nationale wins.
1952 - Radio-Canada (television station) begins broadcasting.
1956 - Québec general election: Union Nationale wins.
1958 - Diefenbaker wins re-election with a strong majority, winning many seats in Québec for the first time.
1958 - Radio-Canada producers go on strike, a hint of the coming Quiet Revolution.
1959 - Longtime Premier of Québec Maurice Duplessis dies in office on September 7.
1960 - Québec general election: The election of a new Liberal Party government led by Premier Jean Lesage marks the beginning of a period of sustained change known as the Quiet Revolution.
1960 - Foundation of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale, a part of the Québec sovereignist movement.
1961 - December 14: Claire Kirkland-Casgrain becomes the first woman Member of the Legislative Assembly and also the first woman cabinet member. .
1962 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1963 - July 10: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 in Québec elections.
1964 - A ministry of education, separate from the Catholic clergy, is created by the Québec government.
1964 - Married women obtain full legal rights (to buy property without their husband's signature, and so forth).
1965 - Canada adopts the maple leaf flag in February.
1966 - Québec general election: Union Nationale wins.
1967 - Québec celebrates the 100th anniversary of its joining in the creation of the nation of Canada
1967 - As part of Canada's centennial celebrations, the Universal Exposition of Montreal, better known as Expo 67, opens for the summer.
1967 - Visiting President of France Charles de Gaulle shouts "Vive le Québec libre!" from the balcony of Montreal city hall. De Gaulle cancelled the rest of his official visit to Canada after Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson said: "Certain statements by President de Gaulle tend to encourage the small minority of our population whose aim is to destroy Canada: and as such, they are unacceptable to the Canadian people and its government."
1967 - In October, René Lévesque leaves the Québec Liberal Party and founds the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association.
1968 - Pierre Trudeau, born in Montreal, Québec, is elected Prime Minister of Canada.
1968 - On August 28, the Théâtre du rideau vert premieres Michel Tremblay's play Les Belles-Sœurs, which sells out its entire run in two days and revolutionizes the entertainment world by using Québec French joual instead of "Parisian" French.
1968 - On October 26, the Parti Québécois is created out of the merger of René Lévesque's Mouvement Souveraineté-Association and the Ralliement national.
1968 - The Université du Québec network is created by the government.
1968 - The government-operated Radio-Québec (television station) is founded. In the 1990s it was renamed Télé-Québec.
1968 - The Legislative Council, the non-elected upper house of Québec's parliament, is abolished.
1969 - The Parliament of Canada, under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, passed Bill C-120 : An Act Respecting the Status of Official Languages in Canada, making both French and English the official languages of all Canada.
1969 - The Union Nationale government of Jean-Jacques Bertrand passes "Bill 63" which confirms the status quo on the language of instruction in the public schools (Parents can choose English or French).
1969 - FLQ terrorists bomb the Montreal Stock Exchange.
1970 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1970 - Terrorist activities by the Front de libération du Québec culminated with the abduction of James Cross, the British Trade Commissioner to Canada, and Pierre Laporte, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier. Martial law is declared and civil rights are suspended.
1971 - Women are allowed to serve on juries.
1971 - Premier Bourassa launches the James Bay hydroelectric project.
1973 - Québec general election: Liberals re-elected.
1973 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police steal the membership list of the Parti Québécois.
1974 - The Liberal government adopts "Bill 22" (Official Language Act (Québec)) language legislation (later superseded by Bill 101).
1975 - The Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms is passed and comes into effect the following year.
1976 - The Summer Olympic Games are held in Montreal.
1976 - Québec general election: On November 15, the Parti Québécois (PQ) is elected. With a participation rate of 85.27%, the highest in Québec's history, 41% of voters give 71 seats to the PQ.
1976 - Québec-born author Saul Bellow wins the Nobel Prize for literature.
1977 - On August 26, the Québec Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) becomes law.
1977 - The exodus of unilingual English speaking workers and businessmen, started with the economic boom of Toronto and the West, accelerates. Over the next decade, more than 200,000 English-speaking Canadians leave the province. Most settled in Ontario. An equally high number of Canadians moved from other provinces to settle in Ontario, where Toronto was booming, replacing Montreal as the major metropolis of Canada, a place it had held since the end of the second world war.
1978 - "No-fault" automobile insurance comes into effect in Québec.
1980 - Pierre Trudeau returns to power as Prime Minister of Canada in the 1980 Canadian election.
1981 - Québec general election: Parti Québécois re-elected.
1981 - November 4-5: In the "Night of the Long Knives" (La Nuit des Longs Couteaux), Pierre Trudeau makes a constitutional deal with nine anglophone provinces without Québec.
June 9 – Following a court challenge to parts of Bill 101 (the French language law of the Province of Québec), the Supreme Court of Canada rules them unconstitutional.
1984 - Deranged former soldier Denis Lortie goes on a shooting spree at the National Assembly on May 8. The assembly is not in session; however, there are 3 deaths and 9 injured.
1984 - Pierre Trudeau resigns as Prime Minister of Canada after taking a "walk in the snow" to think it over.
1984 - John Turner succeeds Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada, only to be defeated three months later by Brian Mulroney.
1984 - Brian Mulroney, born in Baie-Comeau, Québec, is elected Prime Minister of Canada.
1985 - Québec general election: Liberals win.
1988 - Canada-US Free Trade Agreement is negotiated, with broad support from both sides of the political spectrum in Québec.
1989 - A geomagnetic storm in northern Québec causes a nine-hour blackout in parts of province on March 13. Owing to a ripple effect in the transmission lines that feed Québec-produced energy to New York State, ultimately to New York City; and combined with a number of localized problems there and in neighboring New Jersey and Long Island, the storm hundreds of miles away in the wilds of northern Québec also ends up blacking out New York City for several hours.
1989 - Québec general election: Liberals are re-elected.
1989 - École Polytechnique Massacre on December 6.
1990 - The Oka Crisis.
1991 - The Canadian government introduces the unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST).
1992 - October 26: Country-wide referendum on the Charlottetown Accord. The accord is rejected by the population of Canada and also specifically by the population of Québec.
1993 - Brian Mulroney resigns as Prime Minister of Canada on February 24.
1993 - Jean Chrétien, born in Shawinigan, Québec, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada.
1993 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect.
1994 - After almost 40 years of preparation the new Civil Code of Québec comes into effect on January 1st.
1994 - Québec general election: The Parti Québécois elected to office, led by Jacques Parizeau.
1995 - October 24, the James Bay Cree hold their own referendum on whether or not their territory should remain a part of Canada. Over 96% of the Cree vote in favor of retaining the relationship with Canada.
1995 - On October 30, another referendum on sovereignty is held (Québec Referendum 1995). For the second time, the measure is rejected, this time by a slim margin of slightly more than one percent.
1996 - Severe flooding in the Saguenay region from July 18-21 devastates the region and proves to be one of Canada's costliest natural disasters.
1996 - Jean-Louis Roux briefly becomes Lieutenant-governor of Québec, but resigns after less than two months due to his now-regretted anti-Semitic political activity during World War II.
1998 - A severe ice storm strikes Montreal and southwestern Québec in early January, leaving parts of Montreal without power for up to a week; destruction of power lines and pylons leaves a "triangle of darkness" south of Montreal without power for three weeks.
1998 - Québec general election: Parti Québécois is re-elected.
2000 - December 5 - Beginning of the Michaud Affair.
2001 - Discouraged at the lack of support for sovereignty among the population and a fractious PQ caucus, Lucien Bouchard resigns as Premier of Québec and retires from public life on January 11.
2001 - Rhéal Mathieu, who was a member of the former Front de Libération du Québec is convicted of the attempted firebombing of three Second Cup coffee shops in Montreal. Québec Second Cup cafes took the name of Les cafés Second Cup afterwards.
2001 - In April, Québec City hosts the Summit of the Americas, attracting huge anti-globalization protests with activists from everywhere in the Americas. Simultaneously held is the Peoples Summit of the Americas.
2002 - The Action démocratique du Québec wins four by-elections and temporarily enjoys high scores in public opinion polls.
2003 - March: a court ruling legalizes same-sex marriage in Québec.
2003 - Québec general election: April 14, Jean Charest, a strong federalist and leader of the Parti libéral du Québec, becomes premier of Québec.
2003 - Paul Martin becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
2006 - The 2006 Census counted 7,546,131 people in Québec, 308,652 more than in 2001. Québec accounted for 23.9% of Canada's total population in 2006. Québec's population grew three times faster between 2001 and 2006 than in the previous intercensal period. The province experienced its highest growth rate since the 5.6% increase between 1986 to 1991, and its second highest since the end of the baby boom in the mid-1960s. The upswing was due to an increase in international immigration and to smaller net losses in migration exchanges with other provinces.
2005 - Bernard Landry, who resigned as leader of the Parti Québécois in June, is replaced by 39-year old André Boisclair after the leadership election of 2005.
2006 - Stephen Harper's Conservative Party of Canada form minority government. Conservatives greatly reduce Liberal stranglehold on federalist vote in Québec and make important gains by taking 10 new seats, mostly from Bloc in Québec City area.
2007 - Québec general election, Liberals elected as a minority government. ADQ becomes official opposition. Parti Québécois reduced to third party status.
2007 - Québec gears up for the 400th anniversary of the city in 2008.
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