Walter Clifton McDonald (March 16, 1903 in Roland

Roland, Manitoba

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. International children's musicians, LuLu and the TomCat, make their home in Roland. Roland is the birth place of the Canadian 4-H...

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 – November 7, 1999) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...

 as a Liberal-Progressive

Manitoba Liberal Party

The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...

 from 1949 to 1959.

Born to a wealthy land-owning family, McDonald was educated in Roland and at Wesley College

Wesley College, Winnipeg

Wesley College was a college that existed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from 1888 to 1967. It was one of the University of Winnipeg's founding colleges.-History:...

 in Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

. He received a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 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

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...

, and became Grant Master of the Grand Lodge of Manitoba in 1948-49. He became a thirty-third degree mason in 1955.

He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1949 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1949

Manitoba's general election of November 10, 1949 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election pitted the province's coalition government, made up of the Liberal-Progressive Party and the Progressive Conservative Party, against a variety of...

, defeating Independent Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...

 G.R. Muir by 101 votes in the constituency of Dufferin. He served as a backbench supporter of Douglas Campbell

Douglas Lloyd Campbell

Douglas Lloyd Campbell, OC was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as the 13th Premier of Manitoba from 1948 to 1958...

's government, and was re-elected by an increased majority in the 1953 election

Manitoba general election, 1953

Manitoba's general election of June 8, 1953 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. This was the first election held in Manitoba after the breakup of a ten-year coalition government led by the Liberal-Progressives and Progressive Conservatives...

.

The Liberal-Progressives lost power to the Progressive Conservatives following the 1958 election

Manitoba general election, 1958

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1958 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was the first to be held in Manitoba after a comprehensive electoral redistribution in 1956...

, though McDonald retained his seat over Tory candidate William Homer Hamilton by 73 votes. The following year, he lost to Hamilton by 154 votes in the 1959 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1959

Manitoba's general election of May 14, 1959 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a majority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin...

.

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.