| Reeves Matheson | |
| Birth Place: | Glace Bay, Nova Scotia |
| Office: | MLA for Cape Breton East |
| Term Start: | March 24, 1998 |
| Term End: | July 27, 1999 |
| Predecessor: | John MacEachern |
| Successor: | David Wilson |
| 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]