Today in History for Dec. 20:
In 1699, Russian Czar Peter the Great ordered his people to celebrate the New Year on January 1, instead of Sept. 1.
In 1790, the first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I.
In 1792, fortnightly mail service began between Canada and the United States.
In 1803, the United States bought most of what is now the central U.S. from France during ceremonies in New Orleans. The $15-million Louisiana Purchase almost doubled the size of the country.
In 1804, the game "Emulator" was published, "designed for the Amusement of Youth of both Sexes and calculated to inspire their Minds with an Abhorrence of Vice and a Love of Virtue." It never caught on.
In 1820, Missouri imposed a bachelor tax on unmarried men aged 21-50 of $1 a year.
In 1859, the first sod was turned at the start of the construction of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa.
In 1860, South Carolina became the first U.S. state to secede from the Union.
In 1879, inventor Thomas Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1880, an English court decided that the telephone company was an infraction of the telegraph company monopoly. As a result, telephones in Britain are operated by the post office.
In 1883, a cantilever bridge was opened between the United States and Canada at Niagara Falls. The 150-metre bridge was the first to be called a cantilever.
In 1918, an Order-in-Council created the Canadian National Railways Corp. The motion united five financially troubled railways; the Canadian Northern, the Grand Trunk, the Grand Trunk Pacific, Intercolonial and the National Transcontinental. CN's more than 50,000 kilometres of track in Canada and in the United States made it at that time the largest in the world.
In 1922, 14 Russian republics were combined as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In 1929, Canada resumed diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
In 1952, a U.S. air force C-124 crashed into Moses Lake, Wash., killing 87 people.
In 1963, the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day holiday visits to relatives in the eastern sector.
In 1968, Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck died at age 66. His books, including "Of Mice and Men" and "The Red Pony" are perennial favourites on school book lists, while his novel "The Grapes of Wrath" drew attention to the living conditions and exploitation of farm workers.
In 1972, the federal government banned whaling by Canadian vessels on the east coast due to the declining populations.
In 1973, Ottawa announced plans to establish a Commission of Human Rights and Interests to protect people from discrimination. (It was established in 1977 with the creation of the Canadian Human Rights Act.)
In 1980, the B.C. government ordered two provincial agencies to withhold payment of a federal tax on domestic natural gas sales. The agencies, B.C. Hydro and the B.C. Petroleum Corp., were told to hold off payment of the tax, pending possible court challenges to the federal national energy program. The conflict was resolved Sept. 24, 1981, when the federal and B.C. governments signed an agreement to share tax revenues.
In 1982, Wayne Gretzky became the first person to win three consecutive awards as Canada's Male Athlete of the Year.
In 1984, Ottawa announced it would legalize heroin for the terminally ill and those in "intractable pain."
In 1987, more than 4,300 people died when the passenger ferry "Dona Paz" and the oil tanker "Victor" collided in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines.
In 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of General Manuel Noriega.
In 1990, the Alberta government approved a controversial plan to build a $1.6 billion pulp mill near the northern community of Athabasca, overriding opponents concerned about pollution in the Athabasca and Peace River systems. In addition to the $375 million the province had already put toward the plan, it added another $100 million as compensation for construction delayed by environmental studies. Eight years later, an Environment Department report singled out pulp mills as the cause of rising pollution levels on the Athabasca River.
In 1993, John Wintermeyer, former leader of the Ontario Liberal party who served as opposition leader from 1957-1963, died in Toronto at the age of 77.
In 1993, federal Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin announced a ban on cod fishing in most parts of the Atlantic region for 1994 because of severely depleted stocks.
In 1995, an American Airlines jet crashed into a mountain in Buqa, Colombia, 65 kilometres from Cali, killing 160 people. Four people survived.
In 1999, the Canadian National Railway announced it was combining with American railway giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe to create the largest railway in North America.
In 1999, Macau reverted to China after being a Portuguese enclave for the past 443 years.
In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples.
In 2000, David Dodge was named the new Bank of Canada governor, replacing retiring governor Gordon Thiessen. Dodge ended his term in January 2008.
In 2001, the Quebec government announced it would allow motorists to turn right at most red lights starting in August 2002. Quebec and New York City were the last North American jurisdictions to ban such turns.
In 2001, rioting over a lengthy economic crisis forced the resignation of Argentina president Fernando de la Rua.
In 2004, utilities manager Stan Koebel was sentenced to one year in jail for his role in the tainted-water tragedy in Walkerton, Ont. His foreman brother, Frank Koebel, received nine months of house arrest.
In 2006, Canadian troops launched the first major offensive in Operation Baaz T'suka in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan, in an area believed to be a gathering point for Taliban forces.
In 2008, the federal and Ontario governments pledged $4 billion in emergency loans for Canadian subsidiaries of General Motors and Chrysler in a bid to avoid "a catastrophic" collapse of the industry. The announcement came a day after U.S. President Bush offered $17.4-billion in emergency loans for the auto sector.
In 2010, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre played in what turned out to be his last game. He left in the second-quarter against Chicago after suffering a concussion.
In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country's prostitution laws in a unanimous 9-0 ruling. The landmark decision gave Parliament one year to produce new legislation, which it did with Bill C-36. It was passed in November 2014 and took effect on Dec. 6, 2014, and criminalizes the purchase of sex, but provides legal immunity to those who sell it.
In 2017, Justin Trudeau became the first prime minister found to have violated federal conflict of interest rules. Federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson concluded Trudeau violated the rules regarding two vacations in 2016 at the private Bahamian island owned by the Aga Khan. Moreover, she found Trudeau didn't properly recuse himself on two occasions in May 2016 from private meetings about the Aga Khan and a $15-million grant to the billionaire philanthropist's endowment fund of the Global Centre for Pluralism.
In 2018, drones spotted over the runway forced the shutdown of London's Gatwick Airport during one of the busiest times of the year, stranding or delaying thousands of Christmas-season travellers. The prospect of a deadly collision between what police called "industrial"-grade drones and an airliner led authorities to stop all flights in and out. Police said the intrusion was a deliberate attempt to disrupt operations at the airport during a peak period but there were "absolutely no indications to suggest this was terror-related."
In 2018, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was selected as Business Newsmaker of the Year in the annual survey by The Canadian Press of editors across the country. 81 per cent picked Freeland, who went head to head with the Trump administration during NAFTA negotiations. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley was second with nearly 10 per cent.
In 2018, the U.S. Justice Department charged two Chinese citizens with carrying out an extensive hacking campaign to steal data from American companies - also accusing them of targeting a dozen other nations, including Canada. An indictment was unsealed against Zhu Hua and Zhang Shillong, who prosecutors say were acting on behalf of China's main intelligence agency. They are accused of breaching computer networks in a broad swath of industries, including aviation and space and pharmaceutical technology.
In 2020, Ottawa began restricting travel from the United Kingdom in a bid to keep a contagious mutation of the virus that causes COVID-19 from reaching Canada.
In 2020, Nunavut reported its first two deaths from COVID-19.
In 2021, the NHL and its players association temporarily banned Canadian- and American-based teams from crossing the border out of concern over COVID-19. Roughly 10 per cent of the 700-plus players were in the league's virus protocol.
In 2021, lab tests showed a booster dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine increased the level of neutralizing antibodies able to fight the Omicron variant by 37 times. Moderna said the preliminary laboratory data hadn't yet undergone scientific review.
In 2023, editors in newsrooms across the country voted Canada's record-setting wildfire season as The Canadian Press news story of the year. Inflation and the housing crisis rounded out the top three stories of the year.
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The Canadian Press