John Matheson

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Colonel John Ross Matheson, OC , CD , QC , LL.M. , LL.D. (born November 14, 1917) is a former Canadian politician who helped develop both the maple leaf flag and the Order of Canada.

Born in Arundel, Quebec, the son of the Reverend Dr Dawson Matheson and his wife Gertrude, Col. Matheson served as an officer during World War II.

He was first elected as a Liberal in the Ontario riding of Leeds in a by-election in 1961. He was re-elected in 1962, 1963, and 1965. He was defeated by 4 votes in 1968. From 1966 to 1968, he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Lester Pearson.

Matheson was a leading member of the multi-party parliamentary committee whose mandate was to select a new flag design. It was George F.G. Stanley's idea that the new flag should be red and white, and that it should feature the leaf of the sugar maple. Matheson wrote a book, Canada's Flag: A Search for a Country, about the creation of the new flag.

He was also a Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice.

He is a graduate of Queen's University, and won the university's prestigious Tricolour Award in 1940.

[edit] Honours

• In 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.