Peter Macdonald was a physician and political figure in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada. He represented Huron East

Huron East

Huron East was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1882 to 1917. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 from 1887 to 1904 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member.

He was born in Pictou County, Nova Scotia

Pictou County, Nova Scotia

Pictou County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had a population of 46,513 people in 2006, which represents a decline of 6.3 percent from 1991. It is the sixth most populous county in Nova...

, the son of James and Margaret Macdonald, Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 immigrants, came to Huron County

Huron County, Ontario

Huron County is a census division and county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province...

, Canada West with his parents in 1846 and was educated in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. In 1865, he married Margaret Ross. He graduated from Trinity College

University of Trinity College

The University of Trinity College, informally referred to as Trin, is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Trinity was intended by Strachan as a college of strong Anglican alignment, after the University of Toronto severed its ties with the Church of...

 in medicine in 1872 and set up practice in Wingham

Wingham, Ontario

Wingham is a community located in the municipality of North Huron, Ontario, Canada, which is located in Huron County...

. Macdonald served as a member of the town council for Winham; he was reeve in 1879 and mayor in 1881. He also served as chairman of the school board and coroner for Huron County. Macdonald was deputy speaker and chairman of Committees of the Whole from 1901 to 1904. He ran unsuccessfully for reelection to the House of Commons in 1904.

Macdonald's daughter Annie Caroline went to Japan in 1904 as a representative of the YWCA and later became involved in prison reform there.