Reeves Matheson (born 1952) is a Canadian politician. He represented the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Cape Breton East Cape Breton East (formerly Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg) is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The riding is represented by Brian Comer of the Progressive Conserv ...

in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (; ), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia, and together with the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia makes up the Nova Scotia Legislature. The assembly is ...

from 1998 to 1999. He was a member of the

Nova Scotia New Democratic Party The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (Nova Scotia NDP) is a social democratic political party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the provincial section for the province of the federal New Democratic Party. It was founded as the Co-operative Commonwe ...

Early life and education

Born in 1952 at

Glace Bay Glace Bay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Glasbaidh'') is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton. Formerly an incorporated ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Matheson was educated at Saint Mary's University, and

Dalhousie Law School The Schulich School of Law is the law school of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1883 as Dalhousie Law School, it is the oldest university-based common law school in Canada. It adopted its current name in October ...

, where he graduated in 1976. He practiced law in Glace Bay, and served for ten years as town solicitor.

Political career

Matheson first attempted to enter provincial politics in a 1980 byelection for the Cape Breton East riding, where he placed second, losing to Progressive Conservative

Donnie MacLeod Donald Gardner "Donnie" MacLeod (September 10, 1938 – June 22, 2015) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton East in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1980 to 1988. He was a member of the Progressi ...

by 1500 votes. In the 1998 election, Matheson defeated his closest opponent by over 2100 votes to win the seat. On April 2, 1998, Matheson was suspended by the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society for three months pending the outcome of an investigation into a complaint lodged by one of his clients. On May 13, Matheson quit the NDP caucus to sit as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. On June 1, Matheson was disbarred after admitting he took thousands of dollars from trust accounts. On December 16, Matheson was charged with four counts of theft, four of fraud, 3 counts of uttering a forged document and one count of breach of trust. Matheson did not reoffer in the 1999 election. In November 2000, Matheson pleaded guilty to five charges, and in April 2001 was given a conditional sentence of two years house arrest, and ordered to reimburse the Nova Scotia Barristers Society $117,000 for the money it gave back to the victims.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Reeves 1952 births Living people Nova Scotia New Democratic Party MLAs Nova Scotia Independent MLAs People from Glace Bay Saint Mary's University (Halifax) alumni Schulich School of Law alumni 20th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly