1958 Fredericton Encaenia

Matheson, Alexander Wallace

Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)

Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.

Image
Image Caption
L to R: Hugh John Flemming, Robert L. Stanfield, Alexander W. Matheson, Joseph R. Smallwood, J. Herbert Smith
Second Image Caption
Source: Joe Stone fonds-UA RG340, 1958 (#3631)

Citation:

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1958
ALEXANDER WALLACE MATHESON
to be Doctor of Laws

*The motto of Prince Edward Island, the smallest province of our ten, is "Parva sub ingenti" -- which has been translated "Pygmy beside giant". Alexander Matheson, her son and her champion, has made a paradox of this crude rendering by being the tallest politician in Canada.

As Minister of Health and as Attorney and Advocate General, he trudged up the lower slopes of legal and medical administration until he reached that exhilarating but wind-blown summit -- the Premiership. Here, surrounded by a large legislative majority, he rules with gusto and enthusiasm, and does battle as occasion requires with all comers, from local municipalities to the federal department of finance. He is equally at home at the bridge table, where he is widely respected as an adventurous player from whom a grand slam requires all the strategy of a general election, and to whom a successful finesse ranks in importance with a vote of confidence.

Mr. Matheson has had long experience in inter-provincial relations and, along with his fellow premiers in our own and the other Atlantic Provinces, has had a substantial share in developing the unity and good will of this expanding region.

* This citation was composed by a fellow Islander, who obviously knows his Premier well but prefers to remain anonymous.

From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.

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