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William Macdonald

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Person.png William Macdonald WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(lawyer)
W.Macdonald.png
Born1928
NationalityCanadian
Alma materMcGill University, Osgoode Hall
Canadian corporate lawyer who for over fifty-five years advised on a very broad range of policy issues for governments and business. Attended Bilderberg/1975.

William (Bill) Atwood Macdonald is a Canadian well-connected corporate lawyer who attended the 1975 Bilderberg meeting.[1][2]

Education

Macdonald was born and raised in Montreal. He graduated from McGill University, then left for Toronto to study law at Osgoode Hall.[1]

Career

Macdonald practised law for 42 years, 20 of those as senior partner at McMillan Binch in Toronto. His client relationships included the Royal Bank of Canada, Algoma Steel, Honda, and the Ontario government during the John Robarts and Bill Davis eras. In 1976, he recruited John Turner to the firm after Turner stepped down as Canada’s finance minister (he would go on to become the country’s 17th prime minister in 1984).[1]

From the 1970s through the mid‑1980s, he advised the Ontario government on several major public matters, including the province’s fight against the 1969 federal tax reform white paper; the seizure of five loan and trust companies; and the province’s $100‑million investment in the Syncrude tar sands, which kept the project alive at a critical time.[1]

In the aftermath of the federal wage and price controls in 1976, he was appointed by Ontario premier Bill Davis to a new committee on the Economic Future of Ontario, chaired by the premier; and later by the minister of labour to a new joint management-labour committee on the Quality of Working Life, chaired by the minister.[1]

In 1993, Macdonald left McMillan Binch to establish W.A. Macdonald Associates Inc. Its focus is on government relations, economic policy, and the Canadian and global economic/political/policy environment. He has been involved for over fifty-five years in a very broad range of policy issues for governments and business, as well as specific major projects involving both provincial and the federal governments.[1]

He has extensive experience consulting on resource projects. He was instrumental in having the discriminatory Autopact with the U.S. overturned at the WTO in Geneva.[1]

He led two small CEO groups[meaning what?], respectively—one on Canadian economic policy and one on the North American and global economy.[1]

Stemming from his early life in Montreal, he has a long personal experience and history-based understanding of Quebec. He retains significant relationships within the province's senior business and political ranks and senior journalists. Today his network is global, and his friendships include former central bankers and leading economic and political journalists in New York, London, Ottawa, and Washington, D.C. [1]

He had a very long business experience with Japan. He was founding vice-chairman and later chairman of the Japan Society in Canada.[1] It is unknown - but not unlikely - that he was a member of the Trilateral Commission.


 

Event Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Bilderberg/197525 April 197527 April 1975Turkey
Golden Dolphin Hotel
Cesme
The 24th Bilderberg Meeting, 98 guests
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References