His scoop on government bungling was the tabloid's first front-page story on November 1, 1971.
[1] MacDonald's and Robert Reguly's investigations of RCMP wrongdoing in the 1970s feature prominently in the newspaper's history.
Eventually, this work resulted in a police search of the Sun newsroom for leaked documents (1978) and charges against Sun editor Peter Worthington under the Official Secrets Act.
He began his career with the Halifax Chronicle-Herald in 1951, wrote for the Toronto Daily Star from 1953 to 1959 before moving to the Telegram.
[2] His daughter Moira MacDonald was The Toronto Sun's education columnist from 2000 to 2012.