November

* Defying his bad rep and his legions of critics, Pierre Bourque wins a second term as Mayor of Montreal. Bourque's Team Montreal captures 39 seats while ex-cop Jacques Duchesneau wins 3, ex-mayor Jean Doré gets 2 and the MCM, under Michel Prescott, wins a total of 4.

* Michel Trudeau, son of former PM Pierre Elliott and Margaret Kemper, dies in an avalanche in Kokanee Lake, B.C. at age 23.

* British poet laureate Ted Hughes dies at age 68 of cancer. He was known for his stormy marriage to American poet Sylvia Plath, who killed herself in 1963, a year after Hughes left her for another woman.

* Stargazers around the world admire flashes of red and white in the sky during the Leonid meteor shower, touted as the biggest in decades. Although Earth-orbitting satellites were potential targets for passing meteors, our space gadgets survived the shower without a dent.

* Bob Kane, the creator of comic book hero Batman, dies. He invented the caped crusader in 1939 for D.C. Comics.

* Joe Clark wins the Tory leadership race, defeating Saskatchewan anti-free trader David Orchard. Clark now faces the challenge of fighting off those who want to unite the right, tackling the party's $10-million debt and trying to give the public a reason--any reason--to get interested in the Tories.

* Reggiani Martinelli, known as the Black Widow, is sentenced in a Milan court to 29 years in prison for killing her ex-husband, billionaire fashion mogul Maurizio Gucci. Apparently she was not satisfied with her alimony payments and thought she would earn more by offing the Gucci king.

* Former PM Brian Mulroney is awarded the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour.

* NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman, 37, weds Baywatch's Carmen Electra, 26, in Las Vegas. Soon afterward, he filed for a marriage annulment in which he described their vow exchange as "fraud."

* Todd Haynes releases his glam epic Velvet Goldmine. Many critics are perplexed at the glorification of glam, a genre often dismissed as so much shallow glitter and nothing else. The film stars Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

* On the campaign trail for the PQ, Jacques Parizeau makes a public appearance at a local Cégep only to have a pie thrown at him and a bike seat whooped at his head. The entartist is arrested, the seat tosser gets off.

* Andy Scott resigns as Solicitor-General. Caught in a series of muddled lies about whether he had an in-flight discussion about the APEC inquiry and thus compromised the investigation, he decided he could never overcome the public ridicule and therefore quit.

* Veteran PQ MNA Yves Blais, 67, dies of a heart attack while campaigning for reelection in the North Montreal riding of Masson. The riding vote is postponed until Dec. 14.

* The Parti Québécois is re-elected in provincial elections with 75 seats. Although it only wins 48 seats, the Liberal Party wins more of the popular vote: 43.6 per cent as opposed to the PQ's 42.7 per cent. Mario Dumont's Action Démocratique Québec only wins his one seat, but they receive almost 12 per cent of the popular vote.

* Beck releases Mutations, a batch of questionable Syd Barrett imitations, and then covers up by saying it's not a real album, and that the real follow-up to Odelay is on its way.

* Depeche Mode pack the Molson Centre with aging John Hughes fans eager to relive the wacky excitement of the '80s. Fans leave feeling shortchanged after sitting through all their crappy new stuff and then not getting their fix of "Master and Servant."

* Hip hop does not represent at the Hang the DJ blowout. Ex-Pharcyder FatLip pulls a no-show, as do Canibus and Biz Markie. House hero Roger Sanchez does show, and plays for all of about 10 minutes. Git the rope, Clyde!