Donald Matheson Sutherland

Donald Matheson Sutherland, PC (December 3, 1879 – June 4, 1970) was a Canadian physician and politician.

The Honourable Donald Sutherland PC
5th Minister of National Defence
In office August 7, 1930 – November 16, 1934
Prime Minister	Richard Bedford Bennett
Preceded by	James Ralston
Succeeded by	Grote Stirling
Personal details
Born	(1879-12-03)December 3, 1879 Norwich, Ontario
Died	4 June 1979(1979-06-04) (aged 99) Woodstock, Ontario
Military service
Allegiance	Canada
Branch/service	Canadian Expeditionary Force
Years of service	1908-1918
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Battles/wars	World War I

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.

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 House of Commons of Canada. 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.

Sutherland returned to Parliament as a result of the 1930 general election which was won by the Conservatives under R. B. Bennett. 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.