Copyright © 2026 Ian McDonald
Co-published by the Canadian Committee on Labour History and AU Press,
Athabasca University
1 University Drive
Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3
https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993470.01
Cover design by Lara Minja
Cover image: Les McDonald leads Local 213’s left faction en route to a demonstration of unemployed building trades workers at Vancouver City Hall, 1960. Les McDonald private collection.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: The Red Baron of IBEW Local 213: Les McDonald, union politics, and the 1966 Wildcat Strike at Lenkurt Electric / Ian McDonald.
Names: McDonald, Ian (Retired secondary school teacher), author.
Series: Working Canadians (Edmonton, Alta.)
Description: Series statement: Working Canadians : books from the CCLH | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20250321009 | Canadiana (ebook) 20250321068 | ISBN 9781771993470 (softcover) | ISBN 9781771993494 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781771993487 (PDF)
Subjects: LCSH: McDonald, Les. | LCSH: Labor union members—British Columbia—Biography. | LCSH: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Local 213 (British Columbia)—History—20th century. | LCSH: Lenkurt Electric Company—History—20th century. | LCSH: Labor unions—British Columbia—History—20th century. | LCSH: Strikes and lockouts—British Columbia—Burnaby—History—20th century. | LCGFT: Biographies.
Classification: LCC HD6525.M28 M33 2026 | DDC 331.88092—dc23
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities and the assistance provided by the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Media Fund.
This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution–Noncommercial–No Derivative Works 4.0 International: see www.creativecommons.org. The text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit is given to the original author. To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons licence, please contact AU Press, Athabasca University, at [email protected].