1. Charles Cadman was a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2005, representing the riding of Surrey North in Surrey, British Columbia.
28 Facts About Chuck Cadman
1. 2.
Originally a Canadian Alliance MP, Chuck Cadman won re-election as an independent after losing a nomination race in his own riding.
3.
Chuck Cadman was born in Kitchener, Ontario, and grew up in North Bay, Ontario.
4.
Chuck Cadman was a guitarist with a band called The Fringe, which toured Canada.
5.
Chuck Cadman played backup to The Guess Who on CBC Television.
6.
Chuck Cadman attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology and became a certified electrical and electronics engineering technician.
7.
Chuck Cadman worked for ten years as a microfiche camera technician for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.
8.
Chuck Cadman married Dona Cadman in 1969; they had two children: Jodi and Jesse.
9.
Chuck Cadman was first elected to Parliament for Surrey North in the 1997 election as a member of the Reform Party of Canada.
10.
Chuck Cadman introduced a private members bill which proposed to raise the maximum jail term for parents whose children commit crimes while under their supervision.
11.
Chuck Cadman was known for wearing a ponytail and blue jeans in Parliament.
12.
Chuck Cadman was re-elected under the banner of the Canadian Alliance in the 2000 election, and was appointed Justice Critic.
13.
However, prior to the 2004 election Chuck 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.
14.
Chuck Cadman was diagnosed with cancer in early May 2004 and underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his groin.
15.
Chuck Cadman then ran as an independent in that election and was elected.
16.
Chuck Cadman heard about the election call from his hospital bed.
17.
Chuck Cadman 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.
18.
Originally sitting as the only independent in a minority government, Chuck Cadman held considerable power.
19.
On May 19,2005, Chuck Cadman flew to Ottawa for a confidence vote not long after undergoing chemotherapy treatment for malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.
20.
Chuck 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.
21.
Dona Chuck 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.
22.
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.
23.
In early July 2008, Dona Chuck Cadman swore an affidavit that challenged some of Tom Zytaruk's assertions.
24.
Chuck Cadman denied specific public accounts by Zytaruk of how he came to meet Harper that day, and he professed himself "extremely surprised, disappointed and deeply distressed" by her statement.
25.
On July 9,2005, Chuck Cadman died at his home after a two-year-long bout with malignant melanoma.
26.
Over 1,500 people were in attendance: in addition to family, friends, and politicians of all parties in the church itself, Chuck Cadman's constituents packed the neighbouring assembly hall and courtyard to pay their last respects by watching the service on television screens.
27.
Dona Chuck Cadman subsequently reconciled with the Conservatives and was elected to her husband's seat in 2008.
28.
Chuck Cadman only held it for one term before it fell to the NDP in 2011.