Chuck Cadman

Charles Cadman (February 21, 1948 – July 9, 2005) was a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1997 to 2005, representing the riding of Surrey North in Surrey, British Columbia.

Originally a Canadian Alliance MP, Cadman won re-election as an independent after losing a nomination race in his own riding.

He married Dona Cadman in 1969; they had two children: Jodi and Jessie.

On October 18, 1992, Cadman's 16-year-old son Jesse was stabbed to death in a random street attack by a group of young people.

In response to Jesse's death, Cadman and his wife Dona created the group CRY – Crime Responsibility and Youth – and counselled teens likely to become violent.

He also campaigned for a tougher Young Offenders Act.

His activism against youth violence propelled him into politics, first to carry on his fight against youth violence and for victims' rights.

He was first elected to Parliament for Surrey North in the 1997 election as a member of the Reform Party of Canada.

He introduced a private members bill which proposed to raise the maximum jail term for parents whose children commit crimes while under their supervision.

This bill was later incorporated into Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act in November 2000.

He was also known for wearing a ponytail and blue jeans in Parliament.

He was re-elected under the banner of the Canadian Alliance in the 2000 election, and was appointed Justice Critic.

However, prior to the 2004 election Cadman lost the nomination for the Conservative Party to Jasbir Singh Cheema, a former television news anchor who brought a very large number of new party members to the vote.

Cadman was also diagnosed with cancer in early May 2004 and underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his groin.

He then ran as an independent in that election and was elected.

He heard about the election call from his hospital bed.

He was the only candidate not affiliated with a party to win a seat in the 2004 election, and remained an independent, refusing offers to rejoin the Conservatives.

Originally sitting as the only independent in a minority government, Cadman held considerable power.

(Carolyn Parrish, David Kilgour, and Pat O'Brien – all elected as Liberals – would later sit as independents.)

This history garnered him national media attention when, on May 19, 2005, Cadman cast a deciding tie vote to save a minority Liberal government supported by the NDP that the Conservative party at the time was trying to defeat to trigger an election.

Cadman was born in Kitchener, Ontario, and grew up in North Bay, Ontario.

He was a guitarist with a band called The Fringe, which toured Canada.

He also played backup to The Guess Who on CBC Television.

He eventually settled in Surrey, British Columbia.

He attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology and became a certified electrical and electronics engineering technician.

He worked for ten years as a microfiche camera technician for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.

On May 19, 2005, Cadman flew to Ottawa for a confidence vote not long after undergoing chemotherapy treatment for malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

Cadman voted with the government on the 2005 budget, which had incorporated amendments proposed by the NDP, and forced a tie in the House of Commons.

The tie was broken by Peter Milliken the Speaker of the House of Commons, who voted in favour of the Liberal budget (who explained he simply did so because the Speaker traditionally votes to continue a government).

The budget was later passed in Cadman's absence on June 23, 2005.

In an interview after the budget vote, Cadman said he voted in favour of the budget simply because he was obeying the wishes of constituents who did not want to face another election a year after giving the minority Liberals their shaky mandate.

Dona Cadman says that her husband told her that prior to the vote, two Conservative Party officials, later suggested to be Tom Flanagan and Doug Finley, offered her husband a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote against the Liberal budget in May 2005, the rationale being replacement of the life insurance that is part of an MP's compensation package (since Cadman was not running for re-election and would thus not die an MP if he voted down the government).

An audio tape suggests then-opposition leader Stephen Harper was not only aware of a financial offer to Chuck Cadman but gave it his personal approval.

According to Dona Cadman, Harper "looked me straight in the eyes and told me he had no knowledge of an insurance policy offer. I knew he was telling me the truth; I could see it in his eyes."

Cadman's daughter also acknowledged that her father had been disturbed by the offer.

Harper later stated in an August 2008 court deposition that he personally authorized an offer made to Cadman in 2005; however, this offer was of the normal amount offered to a candidate running in an election campaign.

The Conservative Party, based upon analysis by forensic experts who concluded that the tape was edited, asked an Ontario court to order to Liberals to stop using the tape.

But neutral expert testimony showed that the tape has not been edited.

Under section 119 of the Criminal Code, it is illegal to bribe an MP.

Accordingly, Opposition Liberal party Intergovernmental Affairs critic Dominic LeBlanc asked the RCMP in February 2008 to investigate the allegation that the Conservatives had offered Cadman a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his support on the budget vote.