Donald Stovel Macdonald | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Donald Stovel Macdonald

Donald Stovel Macdonald, PC CC, politician, lawyer (born 1 March 1932 in Ottawa, ON; died 14 October 2018 in Toronto, ON).

Donald Stovel Macdonald, PC CC, politician, lawyer (born 1 March 1932 in Ottawa, ON; died 14 October 2018 in Toronto, ON). Elected to the House of Commons as member for Toronto Rosedale in 1962, Macdonald entered the Liberal Cabinet in 1968 and, as minister of energy, mines and resources between 1972 and 1975, resisted economic and provincial pressures to move to world oil prices. In September 1975, he became minister of finance and introduced wage and price controls. He resigned from Cabinet in 1977 to enter private law practice in Toronto.

In 1982, Pierre Trudeau appointed Macdonald chairman of the Royal Commission on Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada. The report, which was released in September 1985, has been influential in debates on economic policy, particularly that on free trade. In March 1987, he and Peter Lougheed agreed to head the Canadian Alliance for Trade and Job Opportunities to promote free trade. Macdonald was appointed high commissioner to the UK in 1988 and resigned in 1991 to return to the practice of law.