Mike Douglas Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 VANCOUVER -- Chuck Cadman, the Independent MP from B.C. whose vote rescued the minority Liberals and spared the country a summer election, has died.Cadman, 57, died Saturday morning after a two-year battle with skin cancer at his home in suburban Surrey with his wife at his side, his office said in a news release. An independent by nature as well as political stamp, he cast the deciding vote to help Prime Minister Paul Martin's government survive a May 19 confidence motion. He flew to Ottawa for the vote soon after completing chemotherapy treatment, saying he was obeying the wishes of constituents who did not want to face another election a year after giving the Liberals their shaky mandate. Cadman suffered from malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. He had undergone rounds of treatment and as late as May thought he was beating it, planning even to run in the next election. But the once-stocky Cadman had lost more than 20 kilograms, about a quarter of his body weight, in the fight. "The chemo helped up to a certain point,'' his friend Ken Caley said Saturday. Outside the family home, Cadman's daughter Jodi said her father had accepted his death. "He was not scared of the process ahead of him,'' she said, noting they had serious and honest conversations about it. ``He knew this journey that he had to take and he was not afraid.'' Cadman represented the suburban Vancouver riding of Surrey North as a Reform, then Canadian Alliance and then an Independent MP. Despite telling constituents he had just been diagnosed with cancer, Cadman won a surprise victory in the 2004 election after losing the Conservative nomination to a rival who had signed up more party members. [see related story from May 20, 2005 click here ] Cadman, first elected in 1997, came to prominence as a crusader for victims' rights after his 16-year-old son, Jesse, was stabbed to death in a random street attack by a group of young people. Martin said in a statement that Cadman was motivated by a desire to change Canada for the better. "A passionate advocate for the rights of victims, his efforts were reflected in a number of changes to the Criminal Code and the proclamation of the new Youth Criminal Justice Act,'' said Martin. "With integrity and principle, Chuck Cadman came into politics to make a difference. And he succeeded. To say the least, he will be missed by us all.'' Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan remembered Cadman's courtesy. "He was the kind of person that if he knew that one of his colleagues was in town and if we were doing something that he was interested in, he would come by,'' she said in Edmonton. "He wasn't partisan in traditional political ways.'' Industry Minister David Emerson said Cadman came to Ottawa "not as a power broker but as a missionary. He said he really admired Cadman for enduring the rigours of cross-country travel despite his cancer battle. "He put it all on the line for what he believed in,'' said Emerson. "I like to say he had grit, which is the ultimate compliment I can pay somebody because that's what Canada was built by -- people with grit.'' Neither McLellan nor Emerson, who won renomination in his Vancouver South riding Saturday, would speculate on when the prime minister might call a byelection. NDP Leader Jack Layton, visiting British Columbia on the weekend, said Cadman's life was a testament to how a tragedy can spur work for positive change and he would be missed on Parliament Hill. "He was there with the most honourable intent,'' said Layton. "He treated other members of the House that way as well. He was the kind of man who represented the best of what public life can offer.'' Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, also on a B.C. stop on the summer barbecue circuit, called Cadman "a good and decent man.'' "He entered politics for a cause,'' he told Global TV News. "He fought his illness with a cheerful dignity and we will all miss him.'' Cadman cut an independent swath in Ottawa in more ways than one. He was recognizable for his mane of long, silver hair, drawn back into a ponytail, and was once mistaken for a janitor in his own parliamentary office. An electronics technician by trade and a onetime rock guitarist, Cadman spent the last federal election day playing recorded music beside the grave of his son, murdered in 1992. Responding to Jesse's death, Cadman created the group CRY -- Crime Responsibility and Youth -- and counselled teens likely to become violent. Cadman campaigned successfully for the toughening of young offenders' legislation and also succeeded in getting his son's killer raised to adult court, where he was handed a life sentence. His activism propelled him reluctantly into politics, first to carry on his fight against youth violence and for victims' rights, then as a much-courted linchpin vote in the minority Parliament. Cadman lost the Conservative nomination last year, confessing he didn't feel comfortable flogging party memberships. Rather than creep away, he opted to run as an Independent. Despite facing well-financed party machines, he recaptured his riding, a mix of working- and middle-class residents, by a crushing 7,000-vote margin. "I am proud,'' said Jodi Cadman. "I believe that one of the main things that it shows is that one person can make a difference, even sitting as an Independent MP, which is very, very rare to be elected as one.'' Cadman became a calm eye at the centre of a political hurricane. "Fate has a funny way of doing things,'' Cadman said in an interview last May as the Liberals' first confidence test loomed. "It's certainly not a role that in my wildest dreams I would have seen myself in.'' On the crucial night in when the Liberals' fate hung in the balance, Cadman, dressed in jeans and chewing gum, stood up calmly in the sweltering Commons and cast his vote with the government. Cadman is survived by his wife Dona and daughter Jodi. A memorial service will be held next Saturday at Surrey's Johnson Height's Church, the news release said. The family asked for privacy at the Cadman home during its time of grieving. Source: here It's sad to see him go, he was one of the few politicians that never had a personal agenda, and always made sure the voice of his constituents was heard in parliment. Even while undergoing chemotherapy, he flew across the country to make sure his riding had a say in if the government was going to stand or fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristotle-dude Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 He should have spent his last days with his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-Flex Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 He was a good man, a man of integrity. It's a loss to Parliament and Canada to lose such an honest politician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmuncher Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 He was a good man and a good politician. Flew it parliament 2 weeks before he died to keep the minority gov't in power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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