Thomas Reid (Canadian politician) explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Hon.
Thomas Reid
Constituency Mp:New Westminster
Parliament:Canadian
Predecessor:William Garland McQuarrie
Successor:William Malcolm Mott
Term Start:1930
Term End:1949
Office2:Senator from British Columbia
Appointer2:Louis St. Laurent
Term Start2:1949
Term End2:1967
Birth Date:1886 4, df=y
Birth Place:Cambuslang, Scotland
Spouse:Mary Jeanie Masson
Party:Liberal
Portfolio:Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Fisheries (1948)
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Revenue (1948–1949)
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Health and Welfare (1949)

Thomas Reid (18 April 1886 – 12 October 1968) was a Canadian businessman and politician in the province of British Columbia.

Reid was born in Cambuslang, Scotland. In 1909, he moved to Canada and in 1911 married Mary Jeanie Masson, also from Scotland. Together they raised a family of two sons and two daughters. The Reids moved to Surrey in 1918 where Thomas Reid managed the Pacific Car and Foundry Company.[1]

In 1922 Reid was elected to office as a Councillor for Surrey and served two years in this capacity. From 1924 to 1930 he was elected annually to the position of Reeve. During this time he was twice appointed head of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. In 1930, Reid entered federal politics and was elected Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the New Westminster riding. He represented this riding for nineteen years. Reid was a founding member of the International Pacific Coast Sockeye Salmon Commission and served as chairman from 1937 to 1967.

Reid was a vocal advocate for cultural genocide, arguing while a Liberal MP for the complete removal Canadians of Japanese ancestry from the province of BC and from Canada altogether.[2] His actions supported the mass clearance of over 20,000 British Columbians in 1942.

He became Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministers of Fisheries and of National Revenue in 1948 and in 1949 assisted the Minister of National Health and Welfare. In 1948 he was summoned to the Senate.[1]

Senator Reid Elementary School in Surrey, BC is named in his honour.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: British Columbia Archival Union List (BCAUL). Archival record. British Columbia Archival Information Network. 24 April 2009.
  2. Web site: From Racism to Redress: The Japanese Canadian Experience . 2022-11-10 . Royal BC Museum.