Scott Jeffrey Reid (born January 25, 1964 in Hull, Quebec) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington as a Conservative. He should not be confused with Scott Reid, press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Reid was educated at Carleton University, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Arts degree in History. He is a respected authority on federalism and the Canadian constitution, and has written two books on the subject: 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). The title of the latter work is a parody of George Grant's 1965 book, Lament for a Nation.
Lament for a Notion contains numerous criticisms of official bilingualism in Canada. Although Reid supports the principle of bilingual services, he has also argued that Canada's system of official bilingualism has been an expensive failure. He maintains that Canada’s official bilingualism is based upon a utopian model, developed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, which abandons what Reid suggests is the more practical model proposed by the 1963-1970 Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (B&B Commission).
Reid has also worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was stationed in Port Townsend, Washington in 1990-1991, covered events in Ottawa for Alberta Report from 1992 to 1994, and wrote opinion pieces for the National Post in 1999-2000. During the 1997-98 academic year, he worked as an instructor at the University of Western Sydney in Australia. Reid is also on the board of directors for Giant Tiger Stores Ltd.
Before running for office himself, Reid served as a constitutional advisor to Reform Party leader Preston Manning, and was a senior researcher for the Reform Party from 1994 to 1997. He was also a speechwriter and organizer for Stockwell Day.
He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the federal election of 2000, narrowly defeating Liberal incumbent Ian Murray in the riding of Lanark—Carleton. Reid was a member of the Canadian Alliance, and was one of only two CA candidates elected in Ontario. Following the election, he was appointed the party’s critic for Intergovernmental Affairs (including official languages) and served in 2001-2002 as the vice-chair of the Standing Joint Committee of the House of Commons and Senate on Official Languages.
In 2002, Reid was a prominent organizer for Stephen Harper in successful bid to replace Stockwell Day as Canadian Alliance leader. The following year, Reid was a lead negotiator for the Alliance in merger talks with the Progressive Conservative Party, which led to the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada.
In the early period of the 2004 election campaign, Reid sparked a national controversy by claiming that official bilingualism should be reviewed by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages. This was interpreted by Prime Minister Paul Martin, in a press conference later that day, to mean that bilingual services would be reduced under a Conservative government. He was forced to resign the next day as his party's critic for official languages.
The controversy may have damaged the Conservative Party's prospects of victory at the national level, but it did not hurt Reid's own 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 now sits in the opposition benches. Following the 2004 election, he was appointed his party’s critic for Democratic Reform and for Fednor (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario).