Pierre Reid

Pierre Reid (born August 16, 1948) is a politician and educator in the Canadian province of Quebec. He has served in the National Assembly of Quebec since 2003, representing Orford as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party. Reid is a former cabinet minister in Jean Charest's government.

He is not to be confused with a senior public servant in Quebec named Pierre Reid.

Early life and academic career

Reid was born in Jonquière, Quebec. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Université Laval (1970) and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Université de Paris XI (1974).

After working as a computer consultant for IBM Canada, Reid became a professor of administrative data processing at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi in 1976. Two years later, he joined the business administration department at the Université de Sherbrooke. He became a vice-rector of the university in 1989, and four years later he defeated Marie Malavoy to become university rector.

Reid supported the Université de Sherbrooke's links to Gaz Métropolitain, which provided a $105,000 scholarship for research in the natural gas sector. He speculated about privatizing some academic programs in 1996, to find new revenue sources in light of government cutbacks. In 2001, he welcomed a $4.7 million investment from the government of Canada to fund health researchers on campus.