{{Short description|Canadian mayor and politician}} {{other people|Alan MacDonald}} {{protection padlock|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 = Ontario MPP | term_start2 = 2002 | term_end2 = 2003 | predecessor2 = Mike Harris | successor2 = Monique Smith | constituency2 = Nipissing | party = Progressive Conservative | birth_date = | birth_place = Marville, France | 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 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.
==Background== McDonald was born in 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 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, 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 provincial election of 2003, and McDonald lost his seat to Liberal candidate 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 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 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 municipal election.
==Electoral record== {{Election box begin no party no change|title=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|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