The year's top news-story was French President Charles de Gaulle's "Vive le Québec libre" speech in Montreal.

The nation began to feel far more nationalistic than before, with a generation raised in a country fully detached from Britain.

These events were coupled with the coming of age of the baby boom and the regeneration of music, literature, and art that the 1960s brought around the world.

[3] While to Montreal it was the year of Expo, to Toronto it was the culmination of the Toronto Maple Leafs dynasty of the 1960s, with the team winning its fourth Stanley Cup in six years by defeating its arch-rival, the Montreal Canadiens, in the last all-Canadian Stanley Cup Finals until 1986.

Quebec separatism led to divisive debates and an economic decline of Montreal and Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) terrorism.

Berton reported that Toronto hockey fans also note that the Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since.