Neil Reimer

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1921–2011)}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Neil Reimer

| image =

| imagesize =

| office1 = Leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party

| term_start1 = January 27, 1963

| term_end1 = November 10, 1968

| predecessor1 = Floyd Albin Johnson (CCF)

| successor1 = Grant Notley

| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|7|3}}

| birth_place = Saskatchewan

| death_date = {{death date and age|2011|3|29|1921|7|3}}

| death_place = Edmonton, Alberta

| party = Alberta New Democratic Party

| otherparty = New Democratic Party

| spouse =

| children = Janice Rhea Reimer

| profession = union organizer

| signature =

}}

Neil Reimer (July 3, 1921 – March 29, 2011) was an activist, trade unionist and politician in Canada.

Reimer attended the University of Saskatchewan, but left in 1942 at the age of 19 to work at the Consumers Co-operative Refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan. There he joined a Congress of Industrial Organizations union organizing drive. In 1950, he became an organizer for the CIO's Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) and was sent to Alberta to organize workers in that province's booming petrochemical industry.Horse sense & organizing", by Neil Reimer as told to Lorraine Endicott, Our Times, February–March 2005

In 1951, Reimer became the Canadian director of the OWIU (which subsequently became the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union) and served as the national director of the union and its successors until he retired in 1982.{{cite web |title=Neil Reimer, 1921–2011 |publisher=Alberta Labour History Institute (ALHI) |series=Workers' History / Workers' Stories |url=https://albertalabourhistory.org/interview-transcripts/neil-reimer/ |date=January 6, 2024}} Under his stewardship, the union grew from fewer than 1,000 members to more than 20,000 by 1961. In 1981 the union gained independence from its American parent to become the Energy and Chemical Workers Union and, in 1992, merged with two other unions to become the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

Reimer was elected as a vice-president of the Canadian Congress of Labour in the 1950s and remained on the executive of it and its successor, the Canadian Labour Congress, until 1974.

At the 1962 founding convention of the Alberta New Democratic Party, Reimer was named party president. The following January, he was elected the first leader of the Alberta NDP.{{cite book |editor-last=Finkel |editor-first=Alvin |title=Working People in Alberta: A History |url=https://albertalabourhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/99Z_Finkel_2011-Working_People_in_Alberta.pdf |pages=166–167 |publisher=AU Press |isbn=978-1926836584 |year=2012 |via=Canadian Committee on Labour History}} The NDP's predecessor, the Alberta CCF, had lost its remaining two seats in the 1959 provincial election and received only 4% of the vote. Under Reimer's leadership, the NDP's share of the popular vote rose to 9% in the 1963 election and to nearly 16% in the 1967 election, but did not win any seats. Reimer resigned as NDP leader in 1968.{{sfn|Finkel|2012|p=167}}

Reimer remained Canadian director of the OCAW throughout the 1960s and 1970s and became national director of the Energy and Chemical Workers Union when it was formed from the OCAW in 1981. He retired from the union's leadership in 1984.Wilfrid List, "Labor's love affair with NDP continues", Globe and Mail, January 16, 1984"Cookstove ignited gas Alberta fire at oil well endangers lives of 5", Canadian Press, February 7, 1985 He then served as the presidentScott Feschuk, "No smiles in Alberta as seniors lose dental benefits in new year Government slashes support for health care by 40 per cent to save $13-million", Globe and Mail, November 14, 1994"Alberta Medical Association - New Guideline For Management Of Cataracts Announced", Canadian NewsWire, August 22, 1996 and later as secretary treasurer of the Alberta Council on Aging.Lauren MacGillivray, "Cash crunch takes toll on seniors", Calgary Herald, November 3, 2001

His daughter, Janice Rhea Reimer, served as mayor of Edmonton from 1989 to 1995.