Saltzman moved to Montreal and studied medicine at McGill University School of Medicine until 1935 when he met and married his first wife, Rose Kogan (1911–1988), in 1935. He dropped out of medical school around this time and took a series of odd jobs such as working in a clothing store, an envelope opener in a puzzle contest and as a waiter before entering the printing business. He then moved with her to Toronto in 1937 where he worked as a Linotype operator at Eveready Printing, the Communist Party of Canada's printshop, for several years. In 1943, he became a meteorology officer for the weather service of the federal government and was attached to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan for the remainder of World War II. He would retain his position with the Dominion Weather Service for 25 years. It was essentially an extension of this function for him to be given the opportunity to bring his expertise first to radio beginning in 1947 and later to television as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, another Canadian government agency, embarked on this new medium.