Reisman, Simon, 1919- : Sol Simon Reisman, son of a Jewish immigrant garment worker, was born in Montreal in 1919. He graduated from McGill University with BA and MA degrees in economics and political science (1941 and 1942), served immediately overseas as a junior officer and troop commander with the Royal Canadian Artillery, and, in 1945, he studied under the famed theorist Harold Laski at the London School of Economics.
In 1946, Simon Reisman entered the federal government with the Department of Labour; he transferred the same year to the Department of Finance. At Finance, Reisman was a member of Canada's delegation to the first GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) talks (1947), attending all GATT sessions between 1948 and 1954. In 1955-1956 he served as assistant director of research for the Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects (Gordon Commission), a commission concerned with the foreign, particularly American, acquisition of Canadian resources and businesses. He advanced through the ranks of the Department of Finance to become in 1957 the Director-General of Economic and International Affairs.
In 1964 Reisman was promoted to Deputy Minister of the newly established Department of Industry, and three years later he became Secretary to the Treasury Board. He finished his civil service career as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1970 to 1975. The crowning achievement of his federal public service career was as Canada's principal negotiator of the 1965 Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement (Autopact); he left government in 1975 with the Outstanding Public Service Award (1974).
In 1975, Reisman took on a number of boards of directorships in private industry including Ranger Oil Ltd. and George Weston Ltd. He also formed the high-profile corporate consulting firm Reisman-Grandy Ltd. with James Grandy (ex-Deputy Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce). Starting in June 1978, he worked for the federal government as a temporary advisor. He conducted a review of the 1965 Autopact, "Inquiry into the Automotive Industry;" his report, tabled November 1978 in the House of Commons, argued for a better Canadian automobile parts industry. Also, in 1985, he accepted the position of chief negotiator for the federal government in the native land claims of the Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic. Reisman subsequently resumed his work as a consultant to business and government until 1985 when he was chosen by the Prime Minister to be Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for the then pending Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement which became law in 1988.
In 1989, Reisman headed a new consulting firm, Trade and Investment Advisory Group (TAIG). The firm was a special branch office of the prestigious Toronto law firm Smith, Lyons, Torrance, Stevenson and Mayer.
Simon Reisman is an experienced speaker and produced a number of reports and articles on the Canadian economy and international trade with the Americans in particular. He contributed to the book, Which Way Ahead? Canada After Wage and Price Control (Vancouver, 1977). In 1978, he was awarded the Order of Canada.
