1. In 2025, Dr Lynn McDonald was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal.
13 Facts About Lynn McDonald
2.
Lynn McDonald's first run for public office was during the 1981 provincial election when she was the Ontario New Democratic Party's candidate in the riding of Oriole in North York.
3.
Lynn McDonald defeated senior party aide Gerald Caplan on the third ballot to win the NDP nomination.
4.
Lynn McDonald earned the enmity of the tobacco industry by moving a private member's bill to restrict smoking and ban tobacco advertising and sponsorships.
5.
Lynn McDonald succeeded in getting the Non-smokers' Health Act adopted, as a private member's bill, in 1988, the first legislation in the world to establish smoke-free work and public places.
6.
Lynn McDonald's bill was short-listed by a parliamentary committee for debate on the floor of the house and succeeded in winning growing support from MPs from all sides of the House of Commons as health groups lobbied in its favour.
7.
The lobbying around Lynn McDonald's bill is credited with giving Epp the political motivation to introduce his own legislation.
8.
Lynn McDonald's bill passed in a free vote despite the fact that every member of Cabinet present in the House voted against it.
9.
Lynn McDonald was defeated in the 1988 federal election by Liberal Dennis Mills by 1,200 votes.
10.
Lynn McDonald attempted a comeback against Mills in the 1993 federal election, but was defeated by almost 10,000 votes as support for the NDP collapsed nationwide.
11.
Lynn McDonald is a co-founder of the Campaign for the Abolition of Solitary Confinement.
12.
Lynn McDonald was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2019.
13.
Lynn McDonald is co-founder of The Nightingale Society which promotes the legacy of Florence Nightingale.