Editing Donald C. MacDonald (section)

===CCF involvement===

MacDonald joined the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) while serving in [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]] in 1942. In 1946, he joined the national CCF staff and travelled the country as a [[party organizer]]. He was a candidate in the August [[1953 Canadian federal election|1953 federal election]] for the British Columbia [[Electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Kootenay East]], and finished a strong third against [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[James Allen Byrne|Jim Byrne]] with 28% of the vote. He was persuaded to run for the [[Ontario CCF/NDP leadership elections#Ontario CCF leadership convention, 1953|Ontario CCF leadership]] later in the same year, and defeated [[Fred Young (Ontario politician)|Fred Young]] and [[Andrew Brewin]] for the position.<ref name="secular">{{Cite book
  | last =Morley
  | first =John Terence
  | title =Secular Socialists the CCF/NDP in Ontario, a Biography
  | place =Kingston-Montreal
  | publisher =McGill-Queen's University
  | year =1984
  | edition =1st
  | url =https://archive.org/details/secularsocialist00morl
  | isbn =0-7735-0390-0
  | url-access =registration
  }}</ref>