Flora I. MacDonald

1976 Leadership Campaign

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 1926.06.03 - North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.

OCCUPATION: Office Administrator. Consultant. Secretary. Tutor.

POLITICAL PARTY: Progressive Conservative (PC).

HOUSE OF COMMONS:
1988.11.21 - Kingston and the Islands, Ontario - Defeated.
1984.09.04 - Kingston and the Islands, Ontario - Re-Elected.
1980.02.18 - Kingston and the Islands, Ontario - Re-Elected.
1979.05.22 - Kingston and the Islands, Ontario - Re-Elected.
1974.07.08 - Kingston and the Islands, Ontario - Re-Elected.
1972.10.30 - Kingston and the Islands, Ontario - Elected.

SENIOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:
Minister of Communications (1986.06.30 - 1988.12.07).
Minister of Employment and Immigration (1984.09.17 - 1986.06.29).
Secretary of State for External Affairs [Foreign Minister] (1979.06.04 - 1980.03.02).

PARTY LEADERSHIP:
Candidate for Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, February 1976. First ballot: 6th place (out of eleven candidates) with 214 votes - 9.1%. Second ballot: 5th place - 239 votes - 10.1%. Withdrew after second ballot and endorsed Joe Clark for Leader. Clark was elected on the fourth ballot.

MISCELLANEOUS:
McDonald was the first female Secretary of State in Canadian history.

After leaving office in 1988, McDonald devoted herself to the cause of international human rights. As an active member of many humanitarian bodies including the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, Doctors Without Borders, World Federalist Movement and the International Centre for Human Rights, she is a leading figure in the movement to alleviate human suffering and disease worldwide.

McDonald -- a "Red Tory" -- was a vocal opponent of the 2003 effort to merge the Progressive Conservative Party and the social conservative Canadian Alliance. When the two parties merged to form the Conservative Party, McDonald did not join the new party.

WEBSITES: Order of Canada: Flora Isabel MacDonald and Pearson Peace Medal: Flora MacDonald.