Donald Stovel Macdonald

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Hon. Donald Stovel Macdonald
Donald Stovel Macdonald

Member of Parliament
for Rosedale
In office
1962 election – Resigned, January 3, 1978
Preceded by David J. Walker
Succeeded by David Crombie

Born March 1, 1932 (1932-03-01) (age 76)
Ottawa
Political party Liberal
Profession Lawyer, Lang Michener LLP

Donald Stovel Macdonald, PC, CC (born March 1, 1932) is a former Canadian Liberal politician and Cabinet minister.

Macdonald graduated from the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto in 1952. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1962 election as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Rosedale riding in Toronto. He joined the Cabinet of Pierre Trudeau in 1968 as minister without portfolio, and subsequently served as President of the Privy Council, Minister of National Defence, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources and Minister of Finance. As Finance Minister, Macdonald introduced wage and price controls in an attempt to control inflation.

Macdonald resigned from Cabinet in 1977 to return to his law practice. When Pierre Trudeau announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada following his defeat in the 1979 election, Macdonald would have declared his candidacy for the position. However, with the unexpected defeat of Joe Clark's Progressive Conservative government on a motion of no confidence, the Liberals asked Trudeau to lead them into the 1980 election and cancelled the leadership campaign. Macdonald was not a candidate for the party leadership when Trudeau again resigned in 1984.

In 1982, Prime Minister Trudeau appointed Macdonald chairman of a Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada. The report was released in September 1985, and recommended that Canada enter a free trade agreement with the United States. Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister by this time. He accepted the recommendation, and pursued what became the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.

Macdonald was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in 1988. He held that position until 1991 when he returned to his law practice in Toronto. In 1994, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

[edit] External links

20th Ministry - First Government of Pierre Trudeau
Cabinet Posts (5)
Predecessor Office Successor
Bud Drury (acting) Minister of Finance
(September 26, 1975 - September 15, 1977)
Jean Chrétien
John James Greene Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources
(January 28, 1972September 25, 1975)
Alastair William Gillespie
Bud Drury (acting) Minister of National Defence
(September 24, 1970January 27, 1972)
Edgar Benson
Allan MacEachen (acting) President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
(July 6, 1968 - September 23, 1970)
Allan MacEachen
Minister Without Portfolio
(April 20, 1968 - July 5, 1968)
Special Parliamentary Responsibilities
Predecessor Title Successor
Allan MacEachen Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
(September 12, 1968September 23, 1970)
Allan MacEachen
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Roy McMurtry
Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
1988–1991
Succeeded by
Fredrik Stefan Eaton
Parliament of Canada
Preceded by
David James Walker, Progressive Conservative
Member of Parliament for Rosedale
1968 – 1978
Succeeded by
David Crombie, Progressive Conservative


[edit] Electoral record

1972 federal election : Rosedale edit
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
     Liberal (x)Donald S. Macdonald 16,073 44.02
     Progressive Conservative Warren Beamish 14,856 40.69
     New Democratic Party Ron Sabourin 4,598 12.59
     Independent Aline Gregory 892 2.44
     N/A (Marxist-Leninist) David Starbuck 95 0.26
Total valid votes 36,514 100.00
Total rejected ballots 612
Turnout 37,126 74.00
Electors on the lists 50,169