Reeves Matheson | |
---|---|
MLA for Cape Breton East | |
In office March 24, 1998 – July 27, 1999 | |
Preceded by | John MacEachern |
Succeeded by | David Wilson |
Personal details | |
Born | 1952 (age 71–72) Glace Bay, Nova Scotia |
Political party |
New Democratic Party (1998) Independent (1998–1999) |
Occupation | lawyer |
Reeves Matheson (born 1952) is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton East in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1998 to 1999. He was a member of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. [1]
Born in 1952 at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Matheson was educated at Saint Mary's University, and Dalhousie Law School, where he graduated in 1976. [2]
He practiced law in Glace Bay, and served for ten years as town solicitor. [2]
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 by 1500 votes. [3] [4] In the 1998 election, Matheson defeated his closest opponent by over 2100 votes to win the seat. [5] 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. [6] On May 13, Matheson quit the NDP caucus to sit as an Independent. [7] On June 1, Matheson was disbarred after admitting he took thousands of dollars from trust accounts. [8] [9] 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. [2] [10] [11] Matheson did not reoffer in the 1999 election. [12] [13] In November 2000, Matheson pleaded guilty to five charges, [14] [15] 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. [16] [17]