Donald Gordon, CC CMG (11 December 1901 – 2 May 1969) was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and the former President of the Canadian National Railways from 1950 to 1966.

He was also asked to meet with United States economic experts as the USA came into the war, and the U.S. modelled much of its price policy on the Canadian experience.

After the war, Gordon was the Canadian representative on the newly formed International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Gordon decided it should be named for Queen Elizabeth II, who had unexpectedly come to the throne in 1952 while the hotel was still on the drawing boards.

The febrile atmosphere of the time seized upon these words to imply that he was anti-French, so he proceeded to justify this statement in a more defendable way in the extensive interviews and television appearances made afterwards.