James MacDonnell

Who was James MacDonnell?

James MacKerras Macdonnell, PC CC was a Canadian lawyer and parliamentarian.

He was born in Kingston, Ontario, the son of George W. Macdonnell and Mary Louise Philips, he was a Master at St. Andrew's College from 1904 to 1914 before becoming a trust company officer. He enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force on September 24, 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec.

Macdonnell was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative Party candidate in the 1945 federal election representing Muskoka—Ontario riding. He was defeated in the 1949 federal election, but returned to parliament later that year when he won a by-election held in the Toronto riding of Greenwood.

Following the 1957 federal election that returned the first Progressive Conservative government and the first Tory government since the Great Depression, the new Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker, named Macdonnell to Cabinet as a minister without portfolio. He resigned from Cabinet on August 8, 1959 for health reasons and was defeated in the 1962 federal election by Andrew Brewin of the New Democratic Party.