Matthew Dymond

Background

Dymond was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and emigrated to Canada in his teens, where he completed his high school education.

Career

He served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Leslie Frost and John Robarts. 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 Portuguese Perry, 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. Dymond started his political career as a Councillor in Portuguese Perry, in 1948, and he later served on the School Board.

He soon joined Leslie Frost"s cabinet as Minister of Reform Institutions in 1957. He briefly served as Minister of Transportation before becoming Minister of Health in 1958.

When Frost retired in 1961, Dymond ran in the Personal Computer leadership convention, coming in sixth place.

He remained Minister of Health in the government of Frost"s successor, John Robarts, until his resignation from cabinet in 1969. He oversaw the implementation of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan which is Ontario"s version of Medicare. Cabinet positions.

Achievements

• Dymond won the Progressive Conservative provincial nomination in May 1955 on the fifth ballot, with 3,500 people voting. He won election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the June 1955 provincial election representing the riding of Ontario.

Membership

He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1955 to 1975 who represented the riding of Ontario. After leaving cabinet, Dymond remained a backbench Member of Provincial Parliament (Master in Public Policy) until the 1975 election when he retired from politics and returned to his medical practice in Portuguese Perry.