Career

Sutherland ran for public office in the 1917 federal election held as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917 as a Laurier Liberal, but was defeated in the riding of Oxford North. He was defeated, however, in the 1926 general election which returned the Liberals under William Lyon Mackenzie King to power following the King-Byng Affair. Bennett appointed Matheson to Cabinet as Minister of National Defence.

In 1934, with the country reeling from the Great Depression, Bennett, as prime minister, instituted his own version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt"s New Deal.

He appointed Sutherland as Minister of Pensions and National Health. Bennett"s reforms were insufficient to appease an unruly electorate, however, and the Bennett government was defeated in the 1935 general election.

Sutherland lost his own parliamentary seat.

Achievements

• By 1921, he had changed allegiances to the Conservatives and, in the 1925 general election, he won the seat of Oxford North and became a Tory Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons. Sutherland returned to Parliament as a result of the 1930 general election which was won by the Conservatives under R. B. Bennett.