Editing Angus Lewis Macdonald (section)

{{Short description|Premier of Nova Scotia from 1933 to 1940}}
{{Other uses|Angus Macdonald (disambiguation)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name           = Angus Lewis Macdonald
| honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC|size=100%}}
| image          = Angus L Macdonald portrait.jpg
| caption        = Macdonald in the 1940s
| order2         = 
| term_start2    = September 8, 1945
| term_end2      = April 13, 1954
| monarch2       = {{Plainlist|
* [[George VI]]
* [[Elizabeth II]]
}}
| lieutenant_governor2 = {{Plainlist|
* [[Henry Ernest Kendall]]
* [[John Alexander Douglas McCurdy|J.A.D. McCurdy]]
* [[Alistair Fraser]]
}}
| predecessor2   = [[Alexander Stirling MacMillan|Alexander S. MacMillan]]
| successor2     = [[Harold Connolly]]
| office1= 12th and 14th [[Premier of Nova Scotia]]
| term_start1    = September 5, 1933
| term_end1      = July 10, 1940
| monarch1       = {{Plainlist|
* [[George V]]
* [[Edward VIII]]
* [[George VI]]
}}
| lieutenant_governor1 = {{Plainlist|
* [[Walter Harold Covert]]
* [[Robert Irwin (Canadian politician)|Robert Irwin]]
* [[Frederick Francis Mathers|Frederick F. Mathers]]
}}
| predecessor1   = [[Gordon Sidney Harrington|Gordon S. Harrington]]
| successor1     = [[Alexander Stirling MacMillan|Alexander S. MacMillan]]
| office3        = [[Nova Scotia House of Assembly|MLA]] for [[Halifax South]]
| predecessor3   = ''District created''
| successor3     = [[Joseph Richard Murphy|Joseph R. Murphy]]
| term_start3    = August 22, 1933
| term_end3      = July 10, 1940
| predecessor4   = Joseph R. Murphy
| successor4     = [[Richard Donahoe]]
| term_start4    = October 23, 1945
| term_end4      = April 13, 1954
| office5        = [[Parliament of Canada|MP]] for [[Kingston City]]
| term_start5    = August 12, 1940
| term_end5      = June 11, 1945
| predecessor5   = [[Norman McLeod Rogers]]
| successor5     = [[Thomas Kidd (Ontario politician)|Thomas Kidd]]
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1890|08|10}}
| birth_place    = [[Dunvegan, Nova Scotia]], Canada
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|1954|04|13|1890|08|10}}
| death_place    = [[Halifax (former city)|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada
| party          = [[Nova Scotia Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| spouse         = Agnes Foley Macdonald
| children       = 4
| alma_mater     = [[St. Francis Xavier University]]
| branch         = [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]]
| rank           = [[Lieutenant (Canada)|Lieutenant]]
| serviceyears   = 
|}}

'''Angus Lewis Macdonald''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC}} (August 10, 1890 – April 13, 1954), popularly known as 'Angus L.', was a Canadian lawyer, law professor and [[Politics of Canada|politician]] from [[Nova Scotia]]. He served as the [[Nova Scotia Liberal Party|Liberal]] premier of Nova Scotia from 1933 to 1940, when he became the federal minister of defence for naval services. He oversaw the creation of an effective [[Royal Canadian Navy|Canadian navy]] and [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[convoy]] service during [[World War II]].<ref>"Fighting Navy", ''Time'' magazine, September 18, 1944.</ref> After the war, he returned to Nova Scotia to become premier again. In the election of 1945, his Liberals returned to power while their main rivals, the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia|Conservatives]], failed to win a single seat. The Liberal rallying cry, "All's Well With Angus L.," was so effective that the Conservatives despaired of ever beating Macdonald.<ref>Stevens, Geoffrey. (1973) ''Stanfield''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, pp.45–46.</ref> He died in office in 1954.

Macdonald's more than 15 years as premier brought fundamental changes. Under his leadership, the Nova Scotia government spent more than $100&nbsp;million paving roads, building bridges, extending electrical transmission lines and improving public education. Macdonald dealt with the mass unemployment of the [[Great Depression]] by putting the jobless to work on highway projects. He felt direct government relief payments would weaken moral character, undermine self-respect and discourage [[personal initiative]].<ref>Henderson, T. Stephen. (2007) ''Angus L. Macdonald: A Provincial Liberal''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Incorporated, pp.3–9.</ref> However, he also faced the reality that the financially strapped Nova Scotia government could not afford to participate fully in federal relief programs that required matching contributions from the provinces.<ref>Forbes, E.R. (1989) ''Challenging the Regional Stereotype: Essays on the 20th Century Maritimes''. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, p.148.</ref>

Macdonald was considered one of his province's most eloquent political orators.<ref>Beck, J. Murray. (1988) ''Politics of Nova Scotia''. (Volume Two 1896–1988) Tantallon, N. S.: Four East Publications, p.154.</ref> He articulated a philosophy of provincial autonomy, arguing that poorer provinces needed a greater share of national tax revenues to pay for health, education and welfare.<ref name="multiref1">Henderson, pp.81–82.</ref> He contended that Nova Scotians were victims of a [[national policy]] that protected the industries of Ontario and Quebec with steep tariffs forcing people to pay higher prices for manufactured goods. It was no accident, Macdonald said, that Nova Scotia had gone from the richest province per capita before [[Canadian Confederation]] in 1867 to poorest by the 1930s.<ref>Macdonald, Angus L. (1960) ''Speeches of Angus L. Macdonald''. Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company, pp.69–75.</ref>

Macdonald was a classical liberal in the 19th-century tradition of [[John Stuart Mill]]. He believed in individual freedom and responsibility and feared that the growth of government bureaucracy would threaten liberty.<ref>"A biographical note", by Senator T. A. Crerar in ''Speeches of Angus L. Macdonald'', p.xix.</ref> For him, the role of the state was to provide basic services. He supported public ownership of utilities like the [[Nova Scotia Power|Nova Scotia Power Commission]], but rejected calls for more interventionist policies such as government ownership of key industries or big loans to private companies.<ref>Henderson, pp.9 & 70.</ref>