Walter Clifton McDonald (March 16, 1903 [1] in Roland, Manitoba [2] – November 7, 1999) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1949 to 1959. [1]
Roland is a village of about 300 people in the Pembina Valley Region of Manitoba, Canada, located in the Rural Municipality of Roland, about 16 km north of Winkler. Juno nominated international children's musicians, LuLu and the TomCat, make their home in Roland. Roland is the birthplace of the Canadian 4-H Council and the Canadian 4-H Club. Roland is home to the world's largest pumpkin, a fibreglass structure built as a tribute to Edgar VanWyck, a local resident who made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1977 for growing the largest pumpkin.
Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is often considered one of the three prairie provinces and is Canada's fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres (250,900 sq mi) with a widely varied landscape, stretching from the northern oceanic coastline to the southern border with the United States. The province is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territories of Nunavut to the north, and Northwest Territories to the northwest, and the U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, with 70% of citizens residing within 100 kilometres of the US border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.
Born to a wealthy land-owning family, the son of John Albert McDonald and Alice Grace Carr, McDonald was educated in Roland and at Wesley College in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1925, and worked in insurance and real estate. McDonald later served on the Board of Regents for United College in Winnipeg. He was also active in freemasonry, and became Grant Master of the Grand Lodge of Manitoba in 1948-49. He became a thirty-third degree mason in 1955. [2] In 1930, he married Jean McKay. They had five children. [3]
A Bachelor of Arts is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, sciences, or both. Bachelor of Arts programs generally take three to four years depending on the country, institution, and specific specializations, majors, or minors. The word baccalaureus should not be confused with baccalaureatus, which refers to the one- to two-year postgraduate Bachelor of Arts with Honors degree in some countries.
Freemasonry or Masonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of Freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, and Master Mason. The candidate of these three degrees is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry, and entrusted with grips, signs and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The initiations are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. The three degrees are offered by Craft Freemasonry. Members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are usually administered by their own bodies.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1949 provincial election, [1] defeating Independent Progressive Conservative G.R. Muir by 101 votes in the constituency of Dufferin. He served as a backbench supporter of Douglas Campbell's government, and was re-elected by an increased majority in the 1953 election. [1]
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is a right-of-centre political party in Manitoba, Canada and the only right-leaning party in the province. It is currently the governing party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, after winning a substantial majority in the 2016 provincial election.
Douglas Lloyd Campbell, OC was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as the 13th Premier of Manitoba from 1948 to 1958. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for 47 years, longer than anyone in the province's history.
The Liberal-Progressives lost power to the Progressive Conservatives following the 1958 election, though McDonald retained his seat [1] over Tory candidate William Homer Hamilton by 73 votes. The following year, he lost to Hamilton [1] by 154 votes in the 1959 provincial election.
McDonald served as Sovereign Grand Commander of Canada's Scottish Rite of Freemasonry from 1976 to 1979. He continued operating his insurance business until 1986. [2]
He died in Roland at the age of 96. [2]