See also: 1977 in Canada, other events of 1978, 1979 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General: Jules Léger
• Prime Minister: Pierre Trudeau
• Premier of Alberta: Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia: W.R. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba: Sterling Lyon
• Premier of New Brunswick: Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland: Frank Moores
• Premier of Nova Scotia: Gerald Regan then John Buchanan
• Premier of Ontario: Bill Davis
• Premier of Prince Edward Island: Alexander B. Campbell then Bennett Campbell
• Premier of Quebec: René Lévesque
• Premier of Saskatchewan: Allan Blakeney

Events

• January 24: Cosmos 954 a Soviet satellite breaks up over northern Canada.
• June 26: Air Canada DC-9 overruns runway in Toronto, 2 people die.
• August 4: 41 are killed when a bus plunges into a lake near Eastman, Quebec.
• September 15: The Sudbury Strike of 1978 begins.
• September 18: Bennett Campbell becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alexander B. Campbell
• October 5: John MacLennan Buchanan becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Gerald Regan
• October 16: Fifteen federal by-elections are held across the country. The governing Liberals lose five seats, which leads to a general election the following May.
• October 18: Saskatchewan election: Allan Blakeney's NDP win a third consecutive majority
• Supreme Court of Canada declares unilingual legislatures and courts unconstitutional
• Chris Pearson becomes government leader of Yukon as responsible government is instituted
• Under the new immigration act homosexuals are no longer an inadmissible class
• VIA Rail is established
• The Commonwealth Games are held in Edmonton, Alberta
• Despite accusations of marital infidelity, Colin Thatcher, who would later become famous for his involvement in the murder of his ex-wife, is re-elected to the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.

Arts and literature

New Works

• Margaret Atwood: Up in the Tree
• Mordecai Richler: The Great Comic Book Heroes and Other Essays
• John Newlove: The Fat Man: Selected Poems (1962–1972)
• John Gray and Eric Peterson: Billy Bishop Goes to War
• Henry Beissel: Goya

Awards

• Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? is nominated for the Booker Prize
• See 1979 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Ernest Buckler, Whirligig
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Lyn Cook

Births

• January 3: Daryn Jones, actor
• February 26: Kyle Hamilton, Olympic rower
• March 9: Chris Phillips, ice hockey player
• April 6: Thomas Herschmiller, Olympic rower
• April 26: Tyler Labine, actor
• May 12: Amy Sloan, actress
• May 15: Dwayne De Rosario, soccer player
• May 15: Caroline Dhavernas, actress
• June 2: Shane Niemi, track and field athlete
• June 13: Matt Bradley, ice hockey player
• June 14: Steve Bégin, ice hockey player
• July 4: Marie Luc Arpin, water polo player
• July 22: A. J. Cook, actor
• June 28: Simon Larose, tennis player
• September 1: Joe Stankevicius, Olympic rower
• September 5: Laura Bertram, actor
• September 6: Amy Agulay, field hockey international
• September 7: Matt Cooke, ice hockey player
• September 7: Devon Sawa, actor
• September 20: Jason Bay, baseball player
• September 21: Paulo Costanzo, actor
• September 22: Steve Moore, ice hockey player
• December 2: Nelly Furtado, singer
• December 23: Esthero, musician
• Rebecca Blaikie, politician

Deaths

• March 25: Charles Alexander Best, politician
• March 31: Charles Best, co-discoverer of insulin
• April 13: Jack Chambers, artist
• September 9: Jack Warner, studio mogul