Matthew Bulloch Dymond, (September 24, 1911 – February 21, 1996) was a politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1955 to 1975 who represented the riding of

. He served as a cabinet minister in the governments of

Leslie Frost Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...

and

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...

Background

Dymond was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and emigrated to Canada in his teens, where he completed his high school education. He received his Doctor of Medicine, from Queen's University in 1941 and he did post-graduate work in Kingston and Toronto before joining the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He served in Canada, England, and Western Europe with the Surgical Division of Number 10 Canadian General Hospital. After the war, he set up general practice in

Port Perry Port Perry is a community located in Scugog, Ontario, Canada. The town is located northeast of central Toronto and north of Oshawa and Whitby. Port Perry has a population of 9,453 as of 2016. Port Perry serves as the administrative and commerc ...

, Ontario, in 1946. Dymond was married to Phyllis Jeanne (January 28, 1903 - March 25, 2002) and they had two daughters, Beverley (Livesay) and Nancy Dymond.

Politics

Dymond started his political career as a Councillor in Port Perry, in 1948, and he later served on the School Board. Dymond won the Progressive Conservative provincial nomination in May 1955 on the fifth ballot, with 3,500 people voting. He won election to the

in the June 1955 provincial election representing the riding of

. He soon joined

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as Minister of Reform Institutions in 1957. He briefly served as

Minister of Transportation A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

before becoming

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

in 1958. When Frost retired in 1961, Dymond ran in the PC leadership convention, coming in sixth place. He remained Minister of Health in the government of Frost's successor,

, until his resignation from cabinet in 1969. He oversaw the implementation of the

Ontario Health Insurance Plan The Ontario Health Insurance Plan ( French: ''Assurance-Santé de l'Ontario''), commonly known in both official languages by the acronym OHIP (pronounced ), is the government- run health insurance plan for the Canadian province of Ontario. OHI ...

which is

's version of Medicare. After leaving cabinet, Dymond remained a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) until the 1975 election when he retired from politics and returned to his medical practice in

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dymond, Matthew 1911 births 1996 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Scugog Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs