Obituary: Geoff Scott was face of CHCH in Ottawa, then served 16 years as Tory MP

Geoff Scott was the long-serving Progressive Conservative MP for Hamilton-Wentworth, representing the riding between 1978-1993.

The former CHCH Ottawa parliamentary reporter was also married to Priscilla Wright, the singer who was the granddaughter of Conservative leader Arthur Meighen, prime minister twice in the 1920s.

But that didn't hold Scott back from speaking out on Progressive Conservative policies. He raised questions in the second term of the Brian Mulroney government about such policies as the GST, NAFTA and the Charlottetown Accord.

He even threatened to quit and sit as an independent over the GST in 1990. PC House leader Harvie Andre once called him silly.

Scott - who died Aug. 5 at 83 in the Mississauga Hospital - told the media in 1991 he believed the Mulroney government had become infected with an aura of arrogance, a sense of corruption of power." He complained he had received indications from Mulroney that he would make it into cabinet in an upcoming shuffle, but there was no phone call.

I never heard from them again," he said. So I decided, if that's the way they're going to treat me, then I'm going to speak out."

Scott, whose highest post was parliamentary secretary to the communications minister (1984-85), also had a battle with the bottle he spoke about publicly.

He decided not to run again in the next election at the end of 1992, A few months later, he was arrested in Ottawa slumped over the wheel of his car with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit. He was banned from driving for a year and fined $600.

He told The Spec in 1995 his years in politics fuelled his slide into alcoholism. He spent time at a Guelph treatment centre, and lived at the Halton Recovery House for three months in 1993 and 1994. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous.

Drinking is an occupational hazard for some politicians, for those like me who are prone to the disease," he said. You have to make a decision either to live or eventually succumb to the disease."

At Scott's funeral in Toronto on Aug. 11, his son Liam said his father made an impression on everyone he met. He said wherever he and his mother went, people were always asking about his dad.

We wondered how he had this magnetism, but he surely did," Liam said.

Senator and former TV newsman Mike Duffy said Scott was a multi-talented man.

He was generous with his insights, helping young reporters learn the ropes of Parliament Hill," he said on social media. He struggled with every MP's dilemma - am I my constituent's man in Ottawa, or am I Ottawa's man in the constituency."

Retired Spectator reporter Gord McMulty, who covered Ottawa in the 1980s, said Scott had an upbeat personality.

He encouraged a collegial approach among Hamilton-area MPs of all parties on Parliament Hill," he said. The results were mixed, but he was well intended."

Scott was born in Ottawa on March 2, 1938, to Douglas and Lillian Scott.

He attended Glebe Collegiate Institute and Carleton University, where he graduated with a bachelor of journalism degree in 1959. One of his friends was impressionist Rich Little. The pair did impressions for fellow students that were so good it got them gigs before local service clubs.

Scott served as editor-in-chief of The Carleton" and worked at the Ottawa Journal from 1957 to 1958. After he graduated from university in 1959, he set up Geoff Scott Communications Ltd. and started feeding news to CHCH as its Ottawa bureau chief.

He won a 1978 byelection for Hamilton-Wentworth. It was called after MP Sean O'Sullivan announced in the fall of 1977 he was leaving politics and joining the priesthood.

In 1992, Scott and two other MPs caused an international incident when they were booted out of China for visiting the families of dissidents linked to the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

After Scott left politics, he had his own CHML radio show and was a political panellist on Cable 14.

Scott is survived by his wife Janette, son Liam and grandson Aidan. He is also survived by his first wife, Priscilla Wright.

Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com.