{{Short description|Canadian politician and businessman (1921–1985)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Max Saltsman | image = Max Saltsman.png | caption = Official 1974 portrait | riding = Waterloo South<br />{{small|(Waterloo; 1968–1974)}}<br />{{small|(Waterloo—Cambridge; 1974–1979)}} | parliament = Canadian | term_start = 9 November 1964 | term_end = 21 May 1979 | predecessor = Gordon Chaplin | successor = ''Riding abolished'' | birth_name = Samuel Mayer Saltsman | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|5|29|df=yes}} | birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|11|28|1921|5|29|df=yes}} | death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | party = New Democratic Party | spouse = {{marriage|Dorothy Gellman|1947}} | profession = {{hlist|Businessman|politician}} | allegiance = Canada | branch = Royal Canadian Air Force | service_years = 1940–1945 | rank = Corporal | battles = World War II }}
'''Samuel Mayer "Max" Saltsman''' (29 May 1921 – 28 November 1985) was a Canadian businessman and politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Waterloo South (1964–1968), Waterloo (1968–1974), and Waterloo—Cambridge (1974–1979) with the New Democratic Party (NDP).<ref>{{cite web |title=Max Saltsman – Parliamentary Profile |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=6634 |website=Library of Parliament |publisher=Parliament of Canada |access-date=27 August 2025}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Saltsman was born on 29 May 1921 in Toronto to Samuel and Sara (née Krier) Saltsman, gaining the nickname “Max” in childhood.<ref name="Globe 1985-11-29">{{cite news |last=Downey |first=Donn |title=Max Saltsman: NDP financial critic embraced odd causes, leapt political fences |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |date=1985-11-29 |page=A23}}</ref> He attended schools in the Spadina area and left Central Technical School at age 14 to work and support his family.<ref name="Star 1985-10-26">{{cite news |last=Scotton |first=Lindsay |title=Max Saltsman still outspoken: Dying politician is rummaging in memories of his long career |newspaper=The Toronto Star |location=Toronto |date=1985-10-26 |page=A10}}</ref> He earned high-school credits through part-time studies after work.<ref name="Star 1985-10-29">{{cite news |last=Goar |first=Carol |title='Uncalculated honest' was Max Saltsman's trademark |newspaper=The Toronto Star |location=Toronto |date=1985-10-29 |page=A14}}</ref>
Saltsman did not complete a university degree, but took correspondence courses while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and continued his education sporadically during his years in Parliament.<ref name="Star 1985-10-29" /> During World War II, he served in France, the Netherlands, and Germany with the RCAF.<ref name="Parliament of Canada">{{cite web |title=Saltsman, Max (Biography) |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/ParlInfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=6ab1d342-3030-459c-9751-639f09fada02&Language=E&Section=FederalExperience |website=Parliament of Canada |publisher=Parliament of Canada |location=Ottawa |access-date=2011-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509082848/http://www.parl.gc.ca/ParlInfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=6ab1d342-3030-459c-9751-639f09fada02&Language=E&Section=FederalExperience |archive-date=2013-05-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1947, he married Dorothy Gellman.<ref name="johnson">{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=J. K. |title=The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867–1967 |publisher=Public Archives of Canada |date=1968}}</ref> He was president of Galt Dry Cleaning Services and Eastern Coin Operated Enterprise.<ref name="johnson" /><ref name="Globe 1985-11-29" />
== Career in politics == Saltsman was first elected to the House of Commons in a 1964 by‑election following the death of MP Gordon Chaplin, and was re‑elected in the general elections of 1965, 1968, 1972, and 1974.<ref name="ParlProfile" /> He served as the New Democratic Party critic for Finance and National Revenue in 1976–1977.<ref name="ParlProfile" /> He drafted private member's bill C‑249, “An Act Respecting a Proposed Association Between Canada and the Caribbean Turks and Caicos Islands,” proposing an association between Canada and the islands; the bill did not proceed to a vote.<ref name="Gazette1974" />
Before entering federal office, Saltsman was an alderman in Galt, Ontario, from 1961 to 1964.<ref name="Gazette1974" /> In 1982, Bill Davis, the Premier of Ontario, appointed Saltsman to the province's Inflation Restraint Board.<ref name="Star1985-11-29" /> He planned to return to municipal politics as a councillor‑at‑large for Cambridge in 1985, but withdrew at a news conference on 21 October after announcing a diagnosis of terminal liver cancer.<ref name="Globe1985-10-23" />
Saltsman died at Toronto's Wellesley Hospital on 28 November 1985, two weeks after the Cambridge municipal election.<ref name="Globe1985-11-29" /> The Max Saltsman fonds are held at Library and Archives Canada.<ref name="LACfonds" />
==Electoral record== <!--More to come--> {{1965 Canadian federal election/Waterloo South}} {{1964 Canadian federal by-elections/Waterloo South}}
== References == <references>
<ref name="ParlProfile">{{cite web |title=Max Saltsman – Parliamentary profile |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=6634 |website=Library of Parliament |publisher=Parliament of Canada |access-date=27 August 2025 }}</ref> <ref name="Gazette1974">{{cite news |title=Annex Turks and Caicos? Private member's bill proposed |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19740216&id=TnowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zKEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2784,17405 |newspaper=The Montreal Gazette |location=Montreal |date=1974-02-16 |access-date=27 August 2025 }}</ref> <ref name="Star1985-11-29">{{cite news |last=van Rijn |first=Nicolaas |title=Ex‑MP Max Saltsman, 64, earned name as NDP maverick |newspaper=The Toronto Star |location=Toronto |date=1985-11-29 |page=A5 }}</ref> <ref name="Globe1985-10-23">{{cite news |title=Ex‑MP Saltsman says death is near |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |date=1985-10-23 |author=Staff/Canadian Press |page=A2 }}</ref> <ref name="Globe1985-11-29">{{cite news |last=Downey |first=Donn |title=Max Saltsman: NDP financial critic embraced odd causes, leapt political fences |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |date=1985-11-29 |page=A23 }}</ref> <ref name="LACfonds">{{cite web |title=Max Saltsman fonds (R10657) |url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=106753&lang=eng |website=Library and Archives Canada |access-date=27 August 2025 }}</ref>
</references>
==External links== {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=6634}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saltsman, Max}} Category:1921 births Category:1985 deaths Category:Deaths from liver cancer in Ontario Category:Jewish Canadian politicians Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Category:New Democratic Party MPs Category:Canadian federal politicians from Toronto Category:University of Western Ontario alumni Category:University of Waterloo alumni Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada