Matthew Bleach was born at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital and was raised in Hanmer. He is married with two children and is an Alumni of St. Charles College, Cambrian College and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.

Matthew served six and a half years as a Medical Technician with the Canadian Forces before being medically released. He has been to Afghanistan, as well as serving as a Medic for various Domestic exercises.  In addition to this he volunteered as the Medic and worked his way up to Co-Chairman and Operations Officer of West Nipissing Search and Rescue before retiring in 2014 after four years. Matthew maintains a Facebook page called Northern Ontario Veterans page on Facebook and is looking forward to championing Veterans rights.