Lynn McDonald CM |
|
---|---|
Lecturing in Toronto, November 2009
|
|
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Broadview-Greenwood |
|
In office 1982–1988 |
|
Preceded by | Bob Rae |
Succeeded by | Dennis Mills |
Personal details | |
Born | July 15, 1940 |
Political party | New Democrat |
Residence | Toronto |
Profession | Professor |
Religion | Anglican |
Lynn McDonald CM (born July 15, 1940) is a university professor, anti-tobacco activist and former member of the Canadian House of Commons. She is a former president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and was the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament for Broadview—Greenwood from 1982 until 1988. McDonald is a professor emerita of sociology at the University of Guelph.
McDonald's first run for public office was during the 1981 provincial election when she was the Ontario New Democratic Party's candidate in the riding of Oriole in North York.
The next year, she entered federal politics and was elected in the by-election held to fill the vacancy created by Bob Rae's departure from federal politics to take the leadership of the Ontario NDP. She defeated senior party aide Gerald Caplan on the third ballot to win the NDP nomination. In the by-election she defeated former Toronto Sun editor Peter Worthington, who was running as an independent, by almost 2,000 votes. In the 1984 federal election, she increased her margin to over 3,500 votes again defeating Worthington who, this time, was running as the official Progressive Conservative candidate.