Western Canada Championships

The Western Canada Championships started in 1953 and brought together teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario to compete for the Western Canadian Championships. Eastern Canada held their own Championships called the Eastern Canada Championships and saw teams throughout Ontario compete for the Eastern Canada Championship. Up until 1968 the Canadian National Championship saw one team from the West compete against one team from the East. There was no Canadian Championship from 1969 to 1971 due to the “blow pin” controversy. In 1972 each of the 4 Western provinces and the winner from Ontario competed for the Canadian Championship. The tournament was always considered the “Carling Open” by the bowlers as Carling O’keefe Breweries sponsored the event for many years.

1978 saw the first Nation-wide Championships where representation from all across Canada competed at the same location for the Carling O’Keefe National Championships, now simply called the Open.