Advertisement 1

YEAR IN BRIEF - March 2018

Article content

MARCH 2018

1 – U.S. President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to help protect the American economy and project jobs. Canada, Mexico and the European Union were granted a temporary exemption of the tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum that took effect March 23, but that exemption came to an end as June 1.

1 – The Recording Industry Association of America announced that Twenty One Pilots’ 14-track album “Blurryface” had become the first album since the advent of digital sales and streams to have every song certified at least gold. “Hometown” was the last song to cross over into gold territory.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

2 – Canadian Country Music Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Prophet died at age 80. He recorded more than 25 albums and charted five singles during the 1970s on the Billboard Country charts, including Sanctuary and Shine On. He was also named country male vocalist of the year at the Juno awards in 1978 and 1979.

2 – A destructive nor’easter pounded coastal areas from Maryland to Maine with hurricane-force winds and sideways-blown rain and snow. The storm flooded coastal towns, downed trees and power lines, and was blamed for nine deaths. At the height of the storm, more than two million homes and businesses were without electricity.

2 – A serial bomber began his reign of terror in the Texas capital of Austin when a package bomb killed a 39-year-old man. Four more bombings in the coming weeks killed a 17-year-old boy and injured four others. On March 21, the suspect detonated an explosive device inside his vehicle as authorities closed in.

3 – Roger Bannister, who as a lanky medical student at Oxford in 1954 electrified the sports world and lifted postwar England’s spirits when he became the first athlete to run a mile in under 4 minutes, died at age 88.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

3 – David Ogden Stiers, a prolific actor best known for playing aristocratic surgeon Maj. Charles Winchester III on the TV series “M.A.S.H.”, died after battling bladder cancer. He was 75.

3 – Family physician Ryan Meili was elected Saskatchewan NDP leader. Meili had entered politics in March 2017, winning a provincial byelection in Saskatoon after two previous failed bids for the party leadership.

4 – The Cold War-era merman romance “The Shape of Water” won the Academy Award for best picture. The movie filmed in Hamilton and Toronto was produced by Canadian J. Miles Dale and Guillermo del Toro, who also won for best director. Frances McDormand was named as best actress for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” while Gary Oldman took the best actor award for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour.”

4 – Five months of political uncertainty in Germany came to an end when Chancellor Angela Merkel gained the needed support of the Social Democrats to remain in a coalition with her conservative bloc, ending the longest time Germany had been without a new government after elections in its postwar history.

Article content
Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

4 – Russell Solomon, founder of the Tower Records chain that became an international phenomenon, died at age 92. He first began selling music as a teenager out of his father’s Sacramento drug store in 1941 and eventually grew the business into a global chain operating 271 stores and selling a billion dollars worth of records at its height in the 1990s. It filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time and was liquidated in 2006.

4 – Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in the city of Salisbury, England. The British government said they were the victims of a military-grade Russian nerve agent. The attempted murders prompted the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War as Britain and 18 other countries, including Canada, later expelled over 100 Russian diplomats. Russia responded by expelling Western diplomats.

8 – A new $10 bill featuring civil rights icon Viola Desmond was unveiled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz at a ceremony in Halifax. Desmond became the first black person – and the first non-royal woman – to appear on a regularly circulating Canadian bank note.

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

8 – Canada and the other 10 members of the old Trans-Pacific Partnership signed a revised trade agreement, just over one year after U-S President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the original 12-nation deal. The new trade pact was renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership.

9 – Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould announced the birth of her days-old son, becoming the first federal cabinet minister to give birth while in office.

9 – A B.C. judge rejected a challenge of Canada’s polygamy laws that was launched after two men were found guilty of the offence in July 2017. Winston Blackmore and James Oler were found guilty in B.C. Supreme Court of having multiple wives, but a lawyer for Blackmore had argued the law infringed on the charter right to freedom of religion and expression.

9 – Martin Shrkeli, the American pharmaceutical executive dubbed “Pharma Bro” who was vilified for jacking up the price of a lifesaving HIV drug, was sentenced in a New York federal court to seven years in prison for defrauding investors in two failed hedge funds.

Advertisement 6
Story continues below
Article content

9 – Cross-country skier Brian McKeever carried the Canadian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Paralympic Games. Canada finished third overall with a national record 28 medals — eight gold, four silver and 16 bronze.

9 – Brenda Lucki was named as the new commissioner of the RCMP. The 31-year veteran of the force was the first woman to ever be permanently appointed as its leader.

10 – Former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford narrowly defeated former Tory legislator Christine Elliott in the Ontario Progressive Conservative party’s leadership race. Elliott initially disputed the results, but conceded defeat the next day.

10 – Canadian Robert Wickens became only the third driver since 1993 to win the pole for his IndyCar debut. The next day, he led the St. Petersburg race for 69 of the 110 laps until contact with Alexander Rossi on a restart took him out of contention and he finished a heartbreaking 18th. Sebastien Bourdais won the event for the second straight time.

10 – Major League Baseball suspended Kansas City Royals sophomore outfielder Jorge Bonifacio for the first 80 games of the year after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone.

Advertisement 7
Story continues below
Article content

10 – French couturier Hubert de Givenchy, a pioneer of ready-to-wear who was among an elite cadre of Paris-based designers who redefined fashion after the Second World War, died at age 91.

11 – At the Canadian Screen Awards, “Maudie,” starring Sally Hawkins as real-life Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis and Ethan Hawke as her fish peddler husband, took a leading seven film trophies, including best picture as well as best actress for Hawkins and best supporting actor for Hawke.

11 – Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador earned his second consecutive Canadian men’s curling championship when his final stone drew the button for a 6-4 victory over Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher.

11 – Paul Casey rallied from five shots back and closed with a 6-under 65 to win the Valspar Championship by one shot over Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed. Corey Conners, the Canadian rookie who started the final round with a one-shot lead, shot six-over and tied for 16th.

11 – Golfer Jerry Anderson, the first Canadian to win on the European Tour after he shot a 27-under par at the Ebel European Masters – Swiss Open in 1984, died at the age of 62. He also competed on the PGA Tour in 1990 and 1992 and won the Nationwide Tour’s Ben Hogan Texarkana Open in 1991.

Advertisement 8
Story continues below
Article content

12 – Suspended music director emeritus James Levine, whose 46-year career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York established him as a towering figure in classical music, was fired by the company after an investigation found evidence of sexual abuse and harassment.

12 – Nokie Edwards, the influential lead guitarist for the “surf rock” pioneers The Ventures, died at age 82. The group helped create the driving, twangy surf sound that influenced the Beach Boys and were best known for the hits “Walk, Don’t Run” and the theme for the TV show “Hawaii Five-O.”

12 – Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin scored twice to reach 600 regular season goals, becoming the 20th player and fourth-fastest in NHL history to reach that milestone in fewer than 1,000 games.

13 – U.S. President Donald Trump ousted Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, tweeting in a surprise morning announcement that Tillerson would be replaced by CIA director Mike Pompeo.

14 – Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralyzed by ALS, died at age 76. Hawking wrote so lucidly of the mysteries of space, time and black holes that his book, “A Brief History of Time,” became an international bestseller, making him one of science’s biggest celebrities since Albert Einstein.

Advertisement 9
Story continues below
Article content

14 – Tens of thousands of students from Maine to Hawaii walked out of their classrooms to demand action on gun violence and school safety in the wake of the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

15 – A newly built pedestrian bridge at the Florida International University in Miami collapsed while undergoing stress tests, falling onto a busy six-lane highway, crushing cars and killing six people. The $14.2 million project was supposed to take advantage of a faster, cheaper and safer method of bridge-building promoted by the university.

15 – University of Maryland-Baltimore County beat Virginia 74-54 to become the first No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 at March Madness, the U.S. college men’s basketball tournament. Previously, No. 1 seeds were a combined 135-0.

15 – Toys R Us sought court approval to liquidate its remaining 735 stores in the U.S., a day after its U.K. counterpart announced it would shutter all 75 locations in the country. The last U.S stores closed on June 29. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. bought the 82 stores in Canada for $300 million.

Advertisement 10
Story continues below
Article content

17 – Mike MacDonald, a pioneer of the Canadian standup comedy scene, died from heart complications at the Ottawa Heart Institute. He was 63. MacDonald was a regular on the Just for Laughs stage and also appeared on several American shows, including “Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.” He also starred in multiple CBC and Showtime specials.

17 – China’s legislature unanimously approved the reappointment of Communist Party Leader Xi Jinping as president with no term limit.

17 – Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling firm based in the U.K., was reported to have improperly harvested Facebook data of some 87 million users, including 622,000 in Canada, in order to help manipulate the outcomes in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Canadian Christopher Wylie, a former Cambridge Analytics employee, emerged as a primary source for one of the reports in the New York Times. Facebook drew continued criticism for its alleged inaction to protect users’ privacy and lost over US$70 billion in market value. Cambridge Analytica filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in May to liquidate operations.

Advertisement 11
Story continues below
Article content

18 – Vladimir Putin rolled to a crushing re-election victory for another six-year term as Russia’s president.

19 – Uber said it was suspending all of its self-driving vehicle testing, including operations in Toronto, after the first fatal pedestrian crash involving a full autonomous test vehicle. A 49-year-old woman was struck a day earlier in a Phoenix suburb and later died in hospital.

20 – Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr received his long-awaited knighthood from Prince William. He used his real name Richard Starkey for the big event.

20 – Former Liberal MP Judy Foote was named the next lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, making her the first woman to serve as the Queen’s representative in the province. Janet Austin, CEO of the Metro Vancouver YWCA, was named B.C.’s next lieutenant-governor.

20 – A N.L. Supreme Court judge ruled the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s is not liable for abuse at the notorious Mount Cashel orphanage in the 1950s because a senior priest likely didn’t believe boys who reported it. One of the lawyers representing many of the more than 80 plaintiffs swiftly announced plans to appeal.

Advertisement 12
Story continues below
Article content

20 – Chris Janson was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry at age 31, becoming its youngest member.

21 – W. Thomas Molloy, a lawyer, treaty negotiator and former chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan, was sworn in as Saskatchewan’s 22nd lieutenant-governor.

21 – The Just For Laughs company was sold to an investor group led by Canadian-born comedian Howie Mandel and U.S. talent agency ICM Partners. In October 2017, the company was rocked after several women came forward with allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment against its founder and majority stakeholder, Gilbert Rozon, who stepped down as president and said he would sell his shares.

21 – Breaking five days of silence, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for a “major breach of trust,” admitted mistakes and outlined steps to protect user data in light of a privacy scandal involving the Trump-connected data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica.

23 – An Isamic extremist gunman killed four hostages being held in a supermarket in France, including a police officer who took the place of a female hostage. Earlier in the day, the gunman had shot at six police officers who were out jogging, injuring one.

Advertisement 13
Story continues below
Article content

23 – Kaetlyn Osmond became the fourth Canadian to win the women’s world figure skating championship, and the first since Karen Magnussen in 1973.

23 – Giant pandas Da Mao and Er Shun, and their Toronto-born cubs Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue, departed from the Toronto Zoo and arrived in Calgary to prepare for a five-year stay to complete a 10-year loan from China.

24 – Hundreds of thousands of teenagers and their supporters rallied in Washington for the March for Our Lives, a student-led movement to urge U.S. lawmakers to enact tougher gun control that was galvanized by the Parkland, Fla., high school massacre. Companion marches took place in hundreds of other American cities, over a dozen Canadian cities, as well as London, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Tokyo and Edinburgh.

25 – At the Juno Awards broadcast gala, the late Gord Downie won artist of the year, Shawn Mendes grabbed the Juno Fan Choice award, while Montreal rockers Arcade Fire scored album of the year for “Everything Now.” Jessie Reyez won breakthrough artist of the year. Barenaked Ladies, accompanied by former bandmate Steven Page, were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Advertisement 14
Story continues below
Article content

25 – Canada’s Jennifer Jones completed a perfect run at the world women’s curling championship with a 7-6 extra end victory over Sweden in the gold medal game.

26 – Canada joined the U.S. and several European countries in expelling over 100 Russian diplomats following a nerve-agent attack in the United Kingdom early in March that left a former Russian spy and his daughter in critical condition.

26 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally exonerated six Tsilhqot’in chiefs who were hanged by B.C.’s colonial government following a deadly confrontation with white road builders during the so-called “Chilcotin War of 1864.”

27 – Songwriter Kenny O’Dell died at age 73. He wrote the 1973 Grammy-winning Best Country Song “Behind Closed Doors” for Charlie Rich and the 1984 Grammy-nominated Song of the Year “Mama He’s Crazy” for The Judds.

28 – The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a letter saying Pope Francis felt he could not personally apologize to Canada’s Indigenous communities for the Catholic Church’s part in residential schools and the trauma experienced by their students. A papal apology was one of 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The conference later issued a background paper suggesting that under the church’s decentralized structure, it was best for Canadian bishops to pursue engagement and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Advertisement 15
Story continues below
Article content

28 – A judge accepted guilty pleas Alexandre Bissonnette on six counts of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder in connection with the January 2017 attack on a mosque in Quebec City.

29 – Houston Astros George Springer became the first major leaguer to hit a leadoff homer in the season opener for the second year in a row.

30 – LeBron James recorded his 867th consecutive game with at least 10 points, breaking Michael Jordan’s NBA record set between 1986-2001. James began his streak on Jan. 6, 2007.

30 – Noor Salman, the widow of the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay Orlando nightclub, was acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI and helping her husband in the 2016 attack.

31 – Canadian Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were among the 13-member class to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September. The Hall of Fame made the announcement on Twitter. Nash, from Victoria, was a two-time NBA most valuable player and eight-time all-star while Kidd earned 10 all-star selections. Other inductees were Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, Tina Thompson, coach Lefty Driesell, Charlie Scott, longtime executive Rick Welts, NBA executive Rod Thorn, Katie Smith, the late Ora Mae Washington and Croatian star Dino Radja.

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers