Roger Simmons

Roger Cyril Simmons, PC (born June 3, 1939) is a public policy consultant and former politician and diplomat in Canada.

Simmons is originally from Newfoundland and Labrador where he was an active politician for many years. He was later based at the Vancouver, British Columbia office of the Gowlings law firm.

The son of Willis Simmons and Ida Williams, he was born in the town of Lewisporte. After studying at the Salvation Army College for Officers, the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Boston University, Simmons became a teacher in Newfoundland's Salvation Army school system. (At the time, the Salvation Army, along with other denominations, ran its own publicly funded schools.) He subsequently moved to Springdale to become principal of Grant Collegiate and superintendent of the Green Bay Integrated School Board.

Simmons married Miriam Jean Torgerson.

He became president of the Newfoundland Teachers' Association in 1968 but resigned to run unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Newfoundland Liberal party.

In 1973, he was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as the Liberal Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for Hermitage. He was re-elected in 1975 as MHA for Burgeo-Bay D'Espoir.

In 1979, he resigned his provincial seat and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1979 federal election as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Burin—St. George's.

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