Person

Scowen, Reed, 1931-

1931-2020

Reed Scowen was born on June 13, 1931, in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

He was a prominent Montreal Liberal known as an outspoken defender of the rights of English Quebecers. He did his undergraduate studies in Lennoxville at Bishop's University. In 1956, he completed an MBA at Harvard University. He was President and General Manager of the Canadian paper company Perkins in Laval, Quebec. In 1972, after selling the company, he studied for a year at the London School of Economics. From 1974 to 1978 he worked for the Canadian federal government in Ottawa as Executive Director of the Price Control Program and the Task Force on Canadian Unity. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec representing the provincial riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce from 1978 to 1987. He later acted as an economic adviser to former Premier Robert Bourassa, and as delegate general for Quebec in London, New York, and Washington.

He wrote two books on Quebec politics: “A Different Vision: The English in Quebec in the 1990s,” and “Time to Say Goodbye: Building a Better Canada without Quebec.”

He died on May 28, 2020, in Toronto, Ontario.