Flora MacDonald (politician)

:"For the Scottish Jacobite heroine, see Flora MacDonald (Scottish Jacobite)"

Flora Isabel MacDonald, P.C., C.C., O.Ont.. O.N.S. (born June 3, 1926) is a Canadian politician.

Born in in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, she worked in administration for the Conservative Party for several years, prior to becoming involved in elective politics.

She was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1972 general election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Kingston and the Islands. She remained in parliament until her defeat in the 1988 election.

At the 1976 PC leadership convention, she became the first woman to mount a serious campaign for the leadership of one of Canada's two major governing parties. She was preceded by Rosemary Brown who ran in 1975 for the leadership of the New Democratic Party, and by Mary Walker-Sawka, who won two votes at the PC leadership convention in 1967.

MacDonald fared worse than expected, leading pundits to coin the phrase "the Flora Syndrome" [cite news
title=Where have all the women leaders gone?
coauthors=Jane Arscott and Linda Trimble
publisher=University of Alberta ExpressNews
url=http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=3542
date=2002-12-20] for the phenomenon of a female politician's promised support failing to materialise. It was thought that this was a result of sexism: delegates liked the candidate but in the end could not bring themselves to vote for her because she was a woman. MacDonald dropped off after the second ballot, and encouraged her supporters to vote for Joe Clark, the eventual winner.

Clark and MacDonald, both Red Tories, became allies throughout their careers. When Clark became Prime Minister of Canada in 1979, he made MacDonald the first female Secretary of State for External Affairs in Canadian history, and one of the first female foreign ministers anywhere in the world. MacDonald, in turn, supported Clark at the 1983 leadership convention, where he lost to Brian Mulroney.

MacDonald returned to government after the PC victory in the 1984 federal election, serving first as Minister of Employment and Immigration, and then as Minister of Communications under Prime Minister Mulroney.

Since losing her seat in 1988, MacDonald has devoted her time to international humanitarian work. She served as president of the World Federalist Movement - Canada. [ [http://www.worldfederalistscanada.org/view.htm World Federalist Movement - Canada, World-View page] accessed June 7, 2006] In 2003, she briefly re-entered the political scene to oppose the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance, but was unable to prevent the folding of the Tory party into the new Conservative Party of Canada. According to journalist Thomas Walkom she voted for the New Democratic Party in the 2004 federal election. [cite news
last=Walkom
first=Thomas
title=Still feeling jilted after right-wing marriage:Many unhappy with PC-Alliance union
publisher=Toronto Star
date=2005-11-12
url=http://www.davidorchard.com/online/media-2005/torontostar-20051112.html]

Honours

*Kingston's prominent 400-boat harbour in front of City Hall is named the Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin in her honour.
*Appointed Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992. [cite web|title=Order of Canada citation|url=http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3981]
*Promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 1998.
*Recipient of the Pearson Medal of Peace in 1999.
*Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws for her role as parliamentarian and humanitarian by Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2003. [ [http://www.mun.ca/marcomm/news/index.php?includefile=showitem.php&id=131 Memorial University names honorary degree recipients for 2003 spring convocation] , April 9, 2003]
*Awarded the Padma Shri, a civilian award, by the Government of India in 2004.
*Peter Raymont made a National Film Board documentary of her 1976 leadership bid, entitled "Flora". [cite web |url=http://www.whitepinepictures.com/seeds/bio-peter.html |title=Peter Raymont]
*Made a Member of the Order of Nova Scotia in 2007. [cite web|title=Recipients—2007|url=http://www.gov.ns.ca/prot/2007recipients.htm]

References

External links

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