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He would only serve until October 29, 1900.  
 
Sir Hugh John Macdonald, (1850 – 1929)  
Was born in Kingstone Ontario on March 13th 1850, son of Sir John A. MacDonald the first Prime Minister of Canada. His mother was Isabella Clark who became ill after two years of marriage, and died in 1857. His brother Hugh was born before him but died at the age of 13 months. His father remarried in 1867 to Susan Agnes Bernard who became his Stepmother.  
 
H. J. MacDonald attended the University of Toronto in 1869 where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and later studied Law in Toronto and Ottawa.  
 
In 1870 he joined the Woseley Expedition as a Private, which was formed to put down the Red River Rebellion. After taking part in the bloodless capture of Upper Fort Garry, after Louis Riel had fled to the U.S. he returned to Ontario to resume his legal studies. He was called to the Bar in 1872, and joined his fathers Law Firm.  
 
After the loss of his first wife he moved to Winnipeg in 1882 where he set up his own Law Practice, but three years later he took time off to help quell Louis Riel’s second Rebellion, the 1885 North West Rebellion. He served as a Lieutenant and Captain in the 90th Battalion of the Winnipeg Rifles.  
 
He became a politician in his own right, serving as a member of the Canadian House of Commons and a federal cabinet minister, and briefly as Premier of Manitoba.  
 
In 1899 the Conservative Party of Manitoba became a legally recognized entity and soon after drew up its first election platform. This was a progressive document by the standards of the day, calling for an independent board of education, new agricultural and technical colleges, a Workmen's Compensation Act, prohibition, and the nationalization of railways.  
 
On a poor note, the Party supported the popular resentment toward immigrants from Eastern Europe. This platform was enough to cause an upset in the provincial election of 1899 with the Conservatives taking 22 seats out of 40. Macdonald narrowly defeated incumbent Liberal John D. Cameron in Winnipeg South, and was sworn in as Premier on January 10, 1900.  
 
During his brief term in office Macdonald succeeded in passing a prohibition bill (known as the "Macdonald Act"), but was again prevailed upon to run for the federal Conservatives in the 1900 federal election. It is possible that he intended to replace Charles Tupper as national party leader.  
 
Macdonald resigned as Premier on October 29, 1900, and challenged Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton in the riding of Brandon.  
 
Sifton was the most powerful cabinet minister in western Canada, but the Conservatives believed that Hugh John's personal popularity would be enough to defeat him, but they were wrong. Despite a spirited challenge, Sifton won the election with 5,011 votes to Macdonald's 4,342.  
 
After this loss, Macdonald abandoned electoral politics, and returned to his law practice. In 1911 he was appointed Police Magistrate for Winnipeg, and held that post during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Immigrants arrested during the strike appeared before him and he ordered them sent to an internment camp at Kapuskasing from where they were eventually deported without the right to formal hearings.  
 
He died on March 29th, 1929 (aged 79) in Winnipeg Manitoba, and was given a State Funeral and is laid to rest in St. John’s Cemetery.  
 
His second wife died in 1940.  
 
Macdonald's last home in downtown Winnipeg at 61 Carlton Street is now the Dalnavert Museum and the offices for the Manitoba Historical Society.  
 
Source: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/macdonald_hj.shtml