[1] He was thirty-three years old during the 1985 election, and was an unemployed social worker.
He received 327 votes (1.31%), finishing fourth against New Democratic Party incumbent Tony Grande.
He was an industrial worker for Canada Westinghouse, served as national representative for the United Electrical Workers Union, and began working full-time for the Communist Party in 1972.
[3] He was a perennial candidate for the party at the provincial and federal levels.
McDonald worked to strengthen Canada's anti-racism laws in the 1970s, and was secretary of Toronto's United May Day Committee in the 1980s.