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 has educated at Carleton University, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in political science. He is a respected authority on federalism and constitutional matters, 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 parodies George Grant's Lament for a Nation.) Before entering politics himself, he 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 a speechwriter and organizer for Stockwell Day.
Reid has also worked as a journalist and teacher. He worked as a journalist in Ottawa from 1990 to 1994, and was stationed in Port Townsend, Washington from 1999 to 2000. He was also an instructor at the University of Western Sydney in Australia in 1997-98, and is a current member of the Board of Directors at Giant Tiger Stores Ltd.
He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the federal election of 2000, narrowly defeating Liberal incumbent Ian Murray in the old riding of Lanark--Carleton . Reid was a member of the Canadian Alliance at the time, and was one of only two CA candidates to win election in Ontario. In 2003, he one of the Alliance's lead negotiators in merger talks with the Progressive Conservative Party, which led to the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Reid's Lament for a Notion contains numerous criticisms of official bilingualism in Canada. Although he generally supports the principle of bilingual services, he has nonetheless argued that the present system has been an expensive failure.
During the 2004 election campaign, Reid sparked a national controversy by claiming that official bilingualism needs to be reviewed, and that bilingual services would be reduced under a Conservative government. He was forced to resign as his party's critic for official languages the next day.
The controversy may have damaged the Conservative Party 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 currently sits in the opposition benches.
