View source for Al McDonald

{{Short description|Canadian mayor and politician}}
{{other people|Alan MacDonald}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Al McDonald
| image         =
| caption       =
| office        = 42nd [[Mayor of North Bay, Ontario]]
| term_start1   = December 1, 2010
| term_end1     = November 15, 2022
| predecessor1  = [[Vic Fedeli]]
| successor1    = Peter Chirico
| office2       = [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|Ontario MPP]]
| term_start2   = 2002
| term_end2     = 2003
| predecessor2  = [[Mike Harris]]  
| successor2    = [[Monique Smith (Canadian politician)|Monique Smith]]
| constituency2 = [[Nipissing (provincial electoral district)|Nipissing]]
| party         = [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]]  
| birth_date    =
| birth_place   = [[Marville, Meuse|Marville]], [[France]]
| residence     = [[North Bay, Ontario]], Canada
| occupation    = 
| spouse        = 
}}
'''Al McDonald''' is a politician in [[Ontario]], Canada, who was mayor of [[North Bay, Ontario]] from 2010 to 2022. He was previously a [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]] member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] from 2002 to 2003, and ran unsuccessfully for the [[Conservative Party of Canada]] in the [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004 federal election]].

==Background==
McDonald was born in [[Marville, Meuse|Marville]], [[France]].<ref>{{cite web |title=City Council Biography - Inside City Hall - City of North Bay |url=http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/cityhall/council/bios.asp |accessdate=2012-07-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420190017/http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/cityhall/council/bios.asp |archivedate=2012-04-20 }}</ref>

==Politics==
McDonald was politically active on [[North Bay City Council]] before entering provincial politics, serving as the deputy [[mayor]] 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 of Ontario|premier]] [[Mike Harris]] resigned as the member for [[Nipissing (provincial electoral district)|Nipissing]] in early 2002, McDonald won the Progressive Conservative nomination to replace him. In a [[by-election]] held on May 2, 2002, he defeated [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] candidate George Maroosis, also a city councillor, by 19 votes, as confirmed by a recount.<ref>{{cite news |title=Recount confirms Tory won Nipissing byelection |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=May 16, 2002 |page=B1}}</ref>  McDonald served as a [[backbench]] supporter of new Premier [[Ernie Eves]].

His tenure in office was brief. The Liberals won a majority government in the [[2003 Ontario general election|provincial election of 2003]], and McDonald lost his seat to Liberal candidate [[Monique Smith (Canadian politician)|Monique Smith]] by about 3,000 votes.<ref name="2003 results">{{cite web|url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/2003_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=38&rec=0&district=Nipissing&flag=E&layout=G |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107231944/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/2003_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=38&rec=0&district=Nipissing&flag=E&layout=G |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 7, 2015 |title=Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=October 2, 2003 |accessdate=2014-03-02 }}</ref>

In the federal election of 2004, McDonald ran for the Conservatives in the redistributed riding of [[Nipissing—Timiskaming]], but lost to [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[Anthony Rota]] by 2,253 votes.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/myelection/ridings/164/ |title=Nipissing - Timiskaming - Canada Votes |publisher=[[CBC.ca]] |accessdate=2012-07-09 |year=2011}}</ref>

On August 26, 2010 McDonald announced his intention to run for [[mayor]] of North Bay in the [[2010 Nipissing District municipal elections|2010 municipal election]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2730842 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130924001805/http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2730842 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2013 |title=McDonald credits existing council |newspaper=North Bay Nugget |date=August 30, 2010 }}</ref> He won 87 per cent of the vote on election day over challengers Valerie Chadbourne and Harvey Villneff.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2816540 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907064817/http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2816540 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |title=McDonald in a landslide |newspaper=North Bay Nugget |date=October 26, 2010 }}</ref> He was elected to a second term as mayor in the [[2014 Nipissing District municipal elections|2014 municipal election]].

==Electoral record==
{{Election box begin no party no change|title=[[2010 Nipissing District municipal elections#North Bay|North Bay mayoral election, 2010]]}}
{{Election box candidate no party no change|candidate = Al McDonald|votes = 13,708|percentage = 86.62}}
{{Election box candidate no party no change|candidate = Valerie Chadbourne|votes = 1,549|percentage = 9.79}}
{{Election box candidate no party no change|candidate = Harvey Villneff|votes = 569|percentage = 3.60}}
{{end}}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|2004|percent=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|[[Anthony Rota]]|18,254|42.3%}}
{{CANelec|CA|Conservative|Al McDonald|16,001|37.1%}}
{{CANelec|CA|NDP|Dave Fluri|7,354|17.0%}}
{{CANelec|CA|Green|Les Wilcox|1,329|3.1%}}
{{CANelec|CA|Canadian Action|Ross MacLean|204|0.5%}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|43,142| 100%}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|222| }}
{{Canadian election result/total|Turnout|43,364|62.4%}}
{{end}}

{{Election box begin|title=[[2003 Ontario general election]]}}
{{CANelec|ON|Liberal|[[Monique Smith (Canadian politician)|Monique Smith]]|18,003|49.84|+6.70}}
{{CANelec|ON|Progressive Conservatives|Al McDonald|14,978|41.47|-8.95}}
{{CANelec|ON|NDP|Terry O'Connor|2,613|7.23|+2.37}}
{{CANelec|ON|Green|Jaimie Board|528|1.46|+0.51}}
{{end}}

{{Election box begin|title=Nipissing by-election, May 2, 2002 (resignation of [[Mike Harris]])}}
{{CANelec|ON|Progressive Conservatives|Al McDonald|13,989|45.54|-4.88}}
{{CANelec|ON|Liberal|George Maroosis|13,970|45.48|+2.34}}
{{CANelec|ON|NDP|Wendy Young|1,821|5.93|+1.07}}
{{CANelec|ON|Green|Todd Lucier|940|3.06|+2.11}}
{{end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Ontario MPP biography|id=al-mcdonald}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Al}}
[[Category:French emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Mayors of North Bay, Ontario]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:21st-century mayors of places in Ontario]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]