- Not be confused with Scott Reid, a Conservative Member of Parliament, also in Canada.
Scott Reid is the deputy chief of staff (operations) in the Prime Minister's Office of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, as well as one of Martin's senior advisors. He makes frequent appearances in Canadian media speaking on behalf of the PMO and the Liberal Party of Canada. During the 2005-06 election campaign, he has served as director of communications for the campaign.
Reid has a B.A. in history and politics from Queen's University. His background includes work for Liberal Premier of Ontario David Peterson. He then went on to work for Earnscliffe Strategy Group, a political consulting firm closely tied to Paul Martin. From 1997 to 2001, Reid served as Communications Director for Martin while the latter was Minister of Finance. He then returned to Earnscliffe until Martin became Prime Minister in 2003.
In 2004 Reid was the subject of much commented upon remarks by U.S. President George W. Bush. At a summit in Monterrey, Mexico the Globe and Mail reported that Bush chatted with Reid about his job and then told him that "well, you got a pretty face." Bush repeated "You got a pretty face," and then said "you're a good-looking guy. Better looking than my Scott anyway." He was comparing Reid to his own spokesman, Scott McClellan.
In October 2004, Reid made media comments concerning Premier Danny Williams during a dispute over offshore oil revenue sharing. When Williams failed to agree to one of Paul Martin's initial offers, Reid said that Williams was "making a mistake of historic proportions and he is doing it on the backs of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians... He may get some short term gains, but he will pay for this in the long run."[1] Reid's statement that Williams "was allowing his ego to get in the way of negotiations with the federal government" resulted in a public apology by the Prime Minister. [2]
In 2005, Reid again found himself the subject of media attention after making several comments the press deemed to be insulting. Reid reportedly told Calgary Herald Don Martin that, "Alberta can blow me."
Reid once again found himself in trouble with the press after making comments indicating that he felt Canadian parents would spend the Conservatives' proposed child care credit on "beer and popcorn" in what has been dubbed the Liberal Party's first major gaffe of the 2006 federal election campaign.