Al McDonald is a politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, who was mayor of

North Bay, Ontario North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. North Bay developed as a railroad centre, and its airport was an important military ...

from 2010 to 2022. He was previously a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 2002 to 2003, and ran unsuccessfully for the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

in the 2004 federal election.

Background

McDonald was born in Marville,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Politics

McDonald was politically active on

North Bay City Council North Bay City Council is the governing body of the city of North Bay, Ontario, Canada. Unlike many Canadian city councils, North Bay does not elect its council on a ward system. Instead, all councillors are elected at-large, and the ten candidat ...

before entering provincial politics, serving as the deputy

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of that city for a time. He also served on the North Bay Economic Development Commission, the North Bay Police Services Board, and other local programs. When former

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

resigned as the member for Nipissing in early 2002, McDonald won the Progressive Conservative nomination to replace him. In a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held on May 2, 2002, he defeated

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate George Maroosis, also a city councillor, by 19 votes, as confirmed by a recount. McDonald served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

supporter of new Premier

Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...

. His tenure in office was brief. The Liberals won a majority government in the provincial election of 2003, and McDonald lost his seat to Liberal candidate Monique Smith by about 3,000 votes. In the federal election of 2004, McDonald ran for the Conservatives in the redistributed riding of

Nipissing—Timiskaming Nipissing—Timiskaming is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. The riding was formed by the amalgamation of the former Nipissing riding with the southeastern ...

, but lost to

Anthony Rota Anthony Michael Gerard Rota (born May 15, 1961) is a Canadian politician who is the 37th and current speaker of the House of Commons of Canada since 2019. A member of the Liberal Party, he currently serves as the member of Parliament (MP) for ...

by 2,253 votes. On August 26, 2010 McDonald announced his intention to run for

of North Bay in the 2010 municipal election. He won 87 per cent of the vote on election day over challengers Valerie Chadbourne and Harvey Villneff. He was elected to a second term as mayor in the 2014 municipal election.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Al French emigrants to Canada Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Living people Mayors of North Bay, Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)