Lynn McDonald (born July 15, 1940) is a Canadian academic, climate activist and former
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
. She is a former president of the
National Action Committee on the Status of Women
The National Action Committee on the Status of Women was a Canadian feminist activist organization.
History
It was founded in 1971 as a pressure group to lobby for the implementation of the 167 recommendations made in the Royal Commission on ...
and was the
New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament for
Broadview—Greenwood from 1982 until 1988. McDonald is professor emerita of
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
at the
University of Guelph
, mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities"
, established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922)
, type = Public university
, chancellor ...
.
Political career
McDonald's first run for public office was during the
1981 provincial election when she was the
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...
's candidate in the
riding of
Oriole in
North York.
The next year, she entered federal politics and was elected in the
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 to fill the vacancy created by
Bob Rae's departure from federal politics to take the leadership of the Ontario NDP. She defeated senior party aide
Gerald Caplan Gerald Lewis "Gerry" Caplan (born 8 March 1938) is a Canadian academic, public policy analyst, commentator, and political activist. He has had a varied career in academia, as a political organizer for the New Democratic Party, in advocacy around edu ...
on the third ballot to win the NDP nomination. In the by-election she defeated former ''
Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...
'' editor
Peter Worthington
Peter John Vickers Worthington (February 16, 1927 – May 12, 2013) was a Canadian journalist. A foreign correspondent with the ''Toronto Telegram'' newspaper from 1956, Worthington was an eyewitness to the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, a ...
, who was running as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, by almost 2,000 votes. In the
1984 federal election, she increased her margin to over 3,500 votes again defeating Worthington who, this time, was running as the official
Progressive Conservative candidate.
McDonald championed women's equality both inside and outside Parliament (she was the first Member of Parliament to be addressed as
Ms.
Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...
) She was a co-founder of the Ontario Committee on the Status of Women, 1971, which lobbied for implementation of the measures of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (to which she had given a brief).
As president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, in 1980, she gave the organization’s brief on equality rights to the Joint Senate-Commons committee on the Charter of Rights.
McDonald was also a notable opponent of smoking. She earned the enmity of the
tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...
by moving a
private member's bill to restrict smoking and ban tobacco advertising and sponsorships.
She succeeded in getting the Non-smokers’ Health Act adopted, as a private member’s bill, in 1988, the first legislation in the world to establish smoke-free work and public places. The Bill also would have banned tobacco advertising and sponsorships and regulated sales by listed tobacco products under the ''Hazardous Products Act''.
McDonald's bill was short-listed by a parliamentary committee for debate on the floor of the house and succeeded in winning growing support from MPs from all sides of the House of Commons as health groups lobbied in its favour. On April 22, 1987, ten days prior to the Bill's scheduled
second reading
A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature.
In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...
vote,
Health Minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
Jake Epp
Arthur Jacob "Jake" Epp, (born September 1, 1939) is a Canadian executive and former politician.
Life and career
Born into a Mennonite family in Manitoba, Epp was a high school history teacher in Steinbach, Manitoba before entering politics. J ...
announced the government's intention to introduce a bill that would ban tobacco advertising and sponsorships and strengthen health warnings on cigarette packages. The government also announced that it would prohibit smoking in government buildings and restrict it in other federally regulated workplaces.
Despite intense lobbying by the tobacco industry, both McDonald's bill and Epp's Bill C-51, were passed by parliament and given
royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...
on June 28, 1988. The lobbying around McDonald's bill is credited with giving Epp the political motivation to introduce his own legislation. McDonald's bill passed in a
free vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamentary ...
despite the fact that every member of Cabinet present in the House voted against it.
McDonald was defeated in the
1988 federal election by
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 ...
Dennis Mills
Dennis Joseph Mills (born July 19, 1946) is a Canadian businessman and former politician. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Toronto—Danforth in the east-end of downtown Toronto. From February 2012 until November 2016, M ...
by 1,200 votes. She attempted a comeback against Mills in the
1993 federal election, but was defeated by almost 10,000 votes as support for the NDP collapsed nationwide.
In 2012, she joined with other Nightingale academics and promoters to form th
Nightingale Society
McDonald has since been active on environmental issues, initially with the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout, and later as co-founder o
JustEarth: A Coalition for Environmental Justice which works on climate change; she was a member of the Board of Directors of Climate Action Network 2010-2014.
A co-founder of the Canadian Electoral Alliance, McDonald campaigned for such an alliance for the 2015 federal election, which would lead to adoption of proportional representation at the federal level.
McDonald is also a co-founder of th
Campaign for the Abolition of Solitary Confinement
She was named a
Member of the Order of Canada in 2015
"Four Nova Scotians among Order of Canada honourees"
''The Chronicle-Herald
''The Chronicle Herald'' is a broadsheet newspaper published in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada owned by SaltWire Network of Halifax.
The paper's newsroom staff were locked out of work from January 2016 until August 2017. ''Herald'' management cont ...
'', July 1, 2015. and elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2019.
In 2020, she joined with Ryerson academics and supporters to form th
Friends of Egerton Ryerson
whose goal is the restoration of Ryerson’s reputation and refutation of the false accusations against him.
·
The historical record vindicates Egerton Ryerson.” ''National Post'' 9 September 2021.
·
30 August 2021. “Egerton Ryerson.” ''Globe and Mail''. A10
·
30 April 2022. “Setting the Record Straight.” ''Toronto Star''
Writing
McDonald is co-founder of ''The Nightingale Society'' which promotes the legacy of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...
.
McDonald is the author of 28 books and numerous scholarly articles, beginning with two in criminology: ''Social Class and Delinquency'' (London: Faber & Faber, 1969) and ''The Sociology of Law and Order'' (London: Faber & Faber,1976); then ''The Party that Changed Canada: The New Democratic Party Then and Now'', Macmillan of Canada, 1987). Her books on social theory began with ''The Early Origins of the Social Sciences'' (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993), ''Women Founders of the Social Sciences'' (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1994), and ''Women Theorists on Society and Politics'' (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press 1998). She is the editor of ''The Collected Works of Florence Nightingale'', a 16-volume, peer-reviewed edition of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...
's books, articles, pamphlets and correspondence gathered from more than 200 archives worldwide, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001-12.
Short Books
* ''Florence Nightingale at First Hand'' (London: Bloomsbury and Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010).
*
Mary Seacole: The Making of the Myth
'. Toronto: Iguana Books 2014.
* ''Florence Nightingale: A Very Brief History'' (London: SPCK 2017)
* ''Florence Nightingale, Nursing and Health Care Today'' (New York: Springer 2018).
* ''Florence Nightingale: A Reference Guide to Her Life and Works'' (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020)
* ''Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men: Working Together for Health Care Reform'' (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press 2022).
Notes
References
* Whitehorn, Alan. "The NDP's Quest for Survival," in ''The Canadian General Election of 1993.'' ed. Alan Frizzell, Jon H. Pammett, and Anthony Westell. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1994.
* See a chapter in Madelyn Holmes, ''Canadian Women Politicians: Working for the Common Good''. Halifax NS: Fernwood, 2017..
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Lynn
Living people
1940 births
Canadian abortion-rights activists
Canadian Anglicans
Canadian health activists
Canadian women environmentalists
Canadian environmentalists
Canadian sociologists
Climate activists
Feminist studies scholars
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Members of the Order of Canada
New Democratic Party MPs
University of Guelph faculty
Women members of the House of Commons of Canada
Women in Ontario politics
Canadian women sociologists
Medical sociologists