He moved to British Columbia, and from 1997 to 2002 was president and CEO of the Council of Forest Industries, the largest lumber manufacturing, grading and marketing group in Canada.
From 2003 to 2006 he was also Advisor, International Market Development to the President and CEO of Canfor Ltd., at the time Canada's largest lumber manufacturer.
MacDonald served as Executive Chairman of Critical Elements Corporation, where he is overseeing the development of joint-venture and long-term supply opportunities as well as financing strategies for their Lithium and tantalum property in Northern Quebec.
He also participated on the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition committee developing guidelines for their global tantalum smelter verification program and has also been a contributor to the EU Commission 'Framework 7' policy paper on 'Scarcity of Strategic Minerals'.
MacDonald is a presenter at conferences in North America, Europe and Asia on the criticality of resources deemed strategic for high tech, green energy and the rapidly evolving grid level mass storage and electric vehicle battery industries.