Donald Stovel Macdonald (March 1, 1932 – October 14, 2018) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer, politician and diplomat. Macdonald was a long-time

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 ...

party

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 ...

and Cabinet minister. In the early 1980s, he headed a royal commission (the

Macdonald Commission The Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, also known as the Macdonald Commission, was a historic landmark in Canadian economy policy. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed the Royal Commission in 1982, an ...

) which recommended that Canada enter a free trade agreement with the United States.

Early life and education

Macdonald was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He graduated from the

University of Trinity College Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angl ...

in the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

in 1952. He subsequently attended Harvard Law School (LLM), as well as the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

in England (Diploma in International Law).

Political career

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1962 election as the Liberal

for the Rosedale riding in Toronto. In 1967, he was the parliamentary secretary of Paul Martin, Secretary of State for External Affairs. He joined the Cabinet of Pierre Trudeau in 1968 and served successively as President of the Privy Council, Minister of National Defence,

Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources The minister of natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government's natural resources portfolio, ...

and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. As Finance Minister, Macdonald introduced tougher

Employment insurance Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compu ...

rules in his 1976 budget, and wage and price controls in an attempt to control inflation in his 1977 budget. 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 Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...

's Progressive Conservative government on a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...

, 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 resigned again in 1984.

Subsequent career

In 1982,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Trudeau appointed Macdonald as chairman of a Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (the

). The report was released in September 1985 and recommended, among other things, that Canada enter into 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 of Canada to the United Kingdom in 1988. He held that position until 1991, when he returned to his law practice in Toronto. He is also a past member of the Steering Committee of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...

Honours and awards

In 1994, Macdonald was made a Companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

. He received honorary degrees from the Colorado School of Mines, the University of New Brunswick, Carleton University, and the University of Toronto (Doctor of Sacred Letters, Trinity College, University of Toronto).

Personal life

Macdonald married Ruth Hutchison (dec.) in 1961, and their four daughters are Leigh, Nikki, Althea, and Sonja. Nikki Macdonald served as a senior advisor to Jean Chrétien during his time as Prime Minister. In 1988, he married Adrian Merchant Lang, the daughter of Sally Merchant. From her prior marriage to Otto Lang, she had seven children: Maria (d. 1991), Timothy, Gregory, Andrew, Elisabeth, Adrian, and Amanda Lang. They have fifteen grandchildren. Macdonald died at his home in Toronto on October 14, 2018.

Electoral record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Donald Stovel 1932 births 2018 deaths Canadian Baptists Canadian Ministers of Finance Defence ministers of Canada Companions of the Order of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group Politicians from Ottawa Politicians from Toronto Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni High Commissioners of Canada to the United Kingdom Harvard Law School alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge 20th-century Baptists