Scott Reid (politician)

Infobox CanadianMP
honorific-prefix =
name = Scott Jeffrey Reid
honorific-suffix =
MP


riding = Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington
parliament = Canadian
term_start = 2004 federal election
term_end =
predecessor = "new riding"
successor =
riding2 = Lanark—Carleton
parliament2 = Canadian
term_start2 = 2000
term_end2 = 2004
predecessor2 = Ian Murray
successor2 = "riding abolished"
birth_date = birth date and age |1964|01|25
birth_place = Hull, Quebec
death_date =
death_place =
party = Conservative
otherparty = Canadian Alliance (2000-2003)
spouse = single
residence = Carleton Place, Ontario
profession = Author, journalist
religion = Unitarian
footnotes =

Scott Jeffrey Reid (born January 25, 1964 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian politician. He has served in the Canadian House of Commons since 2000, and currently represents the Ontario riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington as a member of the Conservative Party.

Early life and career

Reid was born in Hull, Quebec. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Arts degree in Russian History from Carleton University in Ottawa, and is a respected authority on federalism and the Canadian constitution. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/148/ CBC Canada Votes 2006, Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, Scott Reid profile] ] He was raised as a Unitarian, and remains a member of that faith. [ [http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/124_2005-06-28/han124_1255-E.htm Edited Hansard, Canadian House of Commons, 28 June 2005.] ] His mother is Jewish, and he is sometimes listed as a Jewish politician. [Ezra Levant, "Losing the monopoly on Jewish voters", "National Post", 6 July 2004, A13. Levant described Reid as the only Jewish Conservative MP elected in 2004.]

He focussed primarily on intellectual activities before running for public office, working as an author, journalist, researcher and lecturer. In 1990-1991, he worked in Port Townsend, Washington, writing for the American journal "Liberty". He reported on events in Ottawa between 1992 and 1994 for the "Alberta Report", and wrote opinion pieces for the "National Post" newspaper in 1999 and 2000. During the 1997-98 academic year, he was an instructor at the University of Western Sydney in Australia.

Reid also serves on the board of directors of Giant Tiger Stores Ltd., a family-owned business for which he worked full-time in 1985-1989.

Author

Reid has written extensively on Canadian politics. He has published two books: "Canada Remapped: How the Partition of Quebec Will Reshape the Nation" (1992) and "Lament for a Notion: The Life and Death of Canada's Bilingual Dream" (1993). As well, Reid has written chapters in a number of edited books, and published articles in magazines and academic journals. Many of his writings focus on subjects such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the role of the judiciary, property rights, national unity (with an emphasis on the consequences of Quebec separation) and Official Bilingualism.

In "Canada Remapped", Reid argues that the Canadian government should establish a clear legal framework to "govern the mechanics" of both provincial separation and the partition of a seceding province. [Scott Reid, "Canada Remapped", (Vancouver: Pulp Press), 1992, pp. 1-6. The quoted phrase is taken from page five.] While he does not endorse separation or partition, he argues that such a legal framework may be necessary to prevent the sectarian violence of Northern Ireland and the former Yugoslavia from surfacing in Canada, should Quebec voters choose to secede. He concludes the work by advising that a "legal, constitutional method" for provincial secession be entrenched in the Canadian Constitution. [Reid, CR, p. 147.]

The title of Reid's second book, "Lament for a Notion", is an allusion to George Grant's 1965 classic, "Lament for a Nation". Reid asserts in this work that Canada's system of official bilingualism has been an expensive failure, based on a utopian model developed by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau rather than on what Reid suggests is the more practical model of "territorial bilingualism", proposed by the 1963-1970 Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (B&B Commission). He also argues that the existing system of bilingualism costs the Canadian economy four billion dollars every year to sustain. [Ron Eade, "Bilingualism policies under attack", "Toronto Star", 11 August 1995, A19.]

Under Reid's model of territorial bilingualism, official language services would be extended only to those "relatively limited areas" of the country where "French or English is the language of the local majority or a strong local minority, but not of the provincial majority." He argues that this approach would involve "the smallest amount of disruption to individuals" of any proposed model of official bilingualism, and so describes it as the "most just" approach from a utilitarian point of view. [Scott Reid, "Lament for a Notion", (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press), 1993, pp. 27, 33-35.]

"Lament for a Notion" received mixed reviews in the Canadian press. The "Montreal Gazette" ran a strongly negative review, with reviewer George Tombs rejecting Reid's calculations on the cost of official bilingualism as arbitrary and unreliable. [George Tombs, "Minorities sold short in anti-bilingualism book", "Montreal Gazette", 19 February 1994, I2.] A review in the literary journal "Books in Canada" described Reid's work as ideological, arguing "Reid's notion of justice is a familiar one: justice is whatever the marketplace provides; injustice is whatever government does". ["Lament for a notion" (review), "Books in Canada", April 1994, p. 28. The reviewer drew special attention to Reid's support for educational vouchers for minority language students. Reid's endorsement of voucher-based education can be found in Reid, LfaN, pp. 215-217.]

Other reviews were more positive. Denis Smith wrote in the "Toronto Star" that "Lament" was a "hard-headed, fair and devastating account" of the existing system of official bilingualism, adding that its recommendations were "sensible" and "very difficult to refute". [Denis Smith, "Guidance through the coming darkness", "Toronto Star", 14 May 1994, L16.] The "Calgary Herald" described the book as “a remarkable study: Informed, provocative, even visionary.” [Ken McGoogan, “Overhaul urged for bilingualism”, "Calgary Herald", 22 January, 1994, D8.]

One of Reid's most notable essays is "Penumbras for the People", (1996) in which he advocated the adoption of a law that would permit Parliament to invoke Section 33 of the Charter of Rights (the so-called "Notwithstanding Clause", which permits Parliament and the provincial legislatures to re-enact laws that have been struck down by the courts as being in violation of the Charter), only if its use had first been authorized in a national referendum. In a follow-up article written for the "National Post" in 1999, Reid argued that this approach would empower the Canadian electorate, and "reduce the power of the courts to make arbitrary judgments as to the meaning of vaguely drafted Charter rights". [Scott Reid, "A Better Way of Saying 'Notwithstanding'", "National Post", September 21, 1999, A18.]

Reid further argued that this "democratization" of the Notwithstanding Clause would provide greater clarity to Section 1 of the Charter of Rights, which permits laws to remain in effect even if they infringe on Charter-protected rights, as long as the infringements are (to use the words used in Section 1) "reasonable" and "can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society". He wrote that it is difficult for judges to determine which infringements are "demonstrably justified", and that "one can scarcely imagine a more appropriate way of demonstrably justifying what constitutes a reasonable limit on rights in a free and democratic society," than by popular referendums.

Politician

Adviser

Reid served as a constitutional adviser to Reform Party leader Preston Manning in the 1990s, and was the Senior Researcher for the parliamentary caucus of the Reform Party from 1994 to 1997. After the formation of the Canadian Alliance in 2000, he worked as a speechwriter and organizer in Stockwell Day's leadership campaign. [Jane Taber, "Stockwell Day's `young fogeys'", "Ottawa Citizen", 3 July 2000, A4.] In the same year, Reid criticized Jean Chrétien's Clarity Act legislation as failing to provide a clear framework for future referendums on Quebec separatism. [Scott Reid, "Comment", "National Post", 22 February 2000, A20.]

Opposition MP

Reid was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2000 federal election as a member of the Canadian Alliance, narrowly defeating Liberal incumbent Ian Murray in the riding of Lanark—Carleton to become one of only two Alliance representatives from Ontario. He was appointed as his party’s critic for Intergovernmental Affairs (including official languages) and served in 2001-02 as the vice-chair of the Standing Joint Committee of the House of Commons and Senate on Official Languages.

Reid was Stephen Harper's primary Ontario organizer in 2002, during Harper's successful challenge against Stockwell Day for the Alliance leadership. [Tonda McCharles, "Harper says he might run in Ontario first", "Toronto Star", 26 February 2002, A08.] Reid was part of the five-person transition team that arranged for Harper to assume the leadership, following Harper's March 2002 victory. [Jane Taber, "Brain trust likely to have few strategists or Ontarians", "National Post", 27 March 2002, A14.] The following year, he was appointed as a lead negotiator for the Alliance in merger talks with the Progressive Conservative Party. These talks led to the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada. [Sean Gordon, "CanWest News" wirefeed, 6 October 2003, p. 1.]

Early in the 2004 election campaign, Reid provoked a national controversy by re-asserting his view that official bilingualism is too broadly applied in Canada, and should be reviewed by the House of Commons and Senate Standing Committees on Official Languages. [Jack Aubry, "The truth about the bilingualism gaffe bring out", "Vancouver Sun", 29 May 2004, A4.] He was forced to resign his critic position for official languages the following day, and clarified that his views did not represent official party policy. The controversy did not hurt Reid's chances for re-election: he defeated Liberal incumbent Larry McCormick by over 10,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington.

The Liberal Party won a minority government in the 2004 election, and Reid served in the 38th Canadian parliament as a member of the Official Opposition. After the election, he was named as his party’s critic for Democratic Reform and for Fednor (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario).

Government MP

Reid was re-elected in the 2006 federal election, in which the Conservatives won a minority government. He now serves as deputy Government House Leader.

While an opposition MP, Reid argued that returning officers in elections should be appointed by a non-partisan agency instead of the government. This measure was included in the Harper government's "Accountability Act", introduced in 2006. [Campbell Clark, "Appointment of returning officers to be non-partisan", "Globe and Mail", 6 April 2006, A4.] In May of the same year, Reid brought forward a motion to prevent the Federal Ethics Commissioner from making public the identities of employers of dependent children of Members of Parliament. The Commissioner had been given this power to safeguard against conflict-of-interest situations, but Reid and other MPs argued that it was a violation of privacy. [Tim Naumetz, "MP wants panic alarms to deter angry voters", "Ottawa Citizen", 15 May 2006, A3.]

Ideology

Reid describes himself as more libertarian than conservative, [Leonard Stern, "Scott Reid stands to become a tiger of the political right in Parliament", "Ottawa Citizen", 18 February 2001, C6.] and holds a combination of civil libertarian and socially conservative views. He is pro-life and opposes capital punishment. [Randy Boswell, "The Alliance's `great right hope'", "Ottawa Citizen", 1 November 2000, A6.] In 2001, he was one of four Canadian Alliance MPs to break party ranks and vote against the Chrétien government's Anti-Terrorism Act, arguing that it violated traditional civil liberties and should be time-limited by a "Sunset Clause". Reid later voted against the Martin government's same-sex marriage legislation in 2005, after polling his constituents on the issue. He argued that the bill infringed upon religious rights. [ [http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/124_2005-06-28/han124_1255-E.htm Edited Hansard, Canadian House of Commons, 28 June 2005.] ]

During his first two terms as an MP, Reid became closely associated with efforts to end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the People's Republic of China. A motion (M-236) drafted by Reid, which called upon Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to raise the issue of thirteen imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners with close family ties to Canada, was unanimously adopted by the House of Commons on October 24, 2002. This action has been credited with causing the release of some of the prisoners and their subsequent emigration to Canada. Despite Reid's efforts, the Canadian immigration department declined to admit Mingli Lin, a prisoner who was named in Motion M-236, and Lin was re-arrested in 2005. [ [http://www.scottreid.ca/09-01-2005.html "Reid calls on Paul Martin to stand up for human right in China", Conservative Party press release, 1 September 2005.] ]

Provincial politics

Reid is a personal friend of Randy Hillier, a co-founder of the Ontario Landowners Association, who was nominated on May 5, 2007 as the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario candidate in Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington for the 2007 provincial election. Prior to the nomination, some members of the provincial party expressed concern about Hillier's candidacy, and the "Toronto Star" speculated that the party might disqualify him. Reid indicated that he would be "very disappointed" if Hillier were prevented from running, adding "I can't think of anything more dangerous to our prospects". [Ian Urquhart, "Rural activist a potential headache for Tories", "Toronto Star", 12 February 2007, A13.] In early May, Reid publicly endorsed Hillier as his choice for the nomination.

Trivia

*Reid was the only vegan (or even vegetarian) member of the Canadian Alliance caucus elected in 2000. [Stern, "Scott Reid stands", C6.]
*In an annual survey conducted by the "Hill Times" newspaper in May 2006, Reid was voted second in the "Most Generous MP" category, second in the "Most Fun to Work For" category, third in the "Throws the Best Parties" category, and second in the "Worst-Dressed Male MP" category. [Melanie Ho, "14th Annual Best-Dressed/Politically Savvy Survey". "Hill Times", May 15, 2006, 24.]
*On the evening of November 27th, 2006 (Government Business No. 11 debating Nation of Québécois within a united Canada), M.P. Scott Reid made mention to Wikipedia and his name on the site, which was seen on CPAC.
*Each year, Reid donates to charity the proceeds of the $20,000 pay raise that MPs voted themselves in 2001. Each year the money is used to purchase defibrillators for use in hockey rinks, seniors centres, and local police forces in his riding. Reid explained his decision to make the donations by saying, "MPs were making $109,000 at the time. If a single guy living in a small town can't get by on $109,000, he's not trying too hard." [Jeff Green, "Reid, Dombrowsky in Flinton." "Frontenac News", July 5, 2007, p. 1.]

Table of offices held

External links

* [http://www.scottreid.ca/ Scott Reid's Homepage]
* [http://www.howdtheyvote.ca/member.php?id=243 How'd They Vote?]
* [http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/ProfileMP.aspx?Key=78620&Language=E Parliament Webpage]

Electoral record

All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.

Footnotes