Al McDonald

Who is Al McDonald?

Al McDonald is a politician in Ontario, Canada, currently the mayor of North Bay, Ontario. He was previously a 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 federal election.

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 Mike Harris resigned as the member for Nipissing in early 2002, McDonald won the Progressive Conservative nomination to replace him. In a by-election held on May 2, 2002, he defeated Liberal candidate George Maroosis by 19 votes, as confirmed by a recount. Despite being one of the few Tory Members of Provincial Parliament from Northern Ontario, McDonald was not given a place in the cabinet of Ernie Eves.

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, but lost to Liberal Anthony Rota by 2,253 votes.