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Editorial: Why is Chuck Cadman being called a liar?
Chuck Cadman |
Thrust into politics after his son Jesse was stabbed to death in a random street attack, Cadman and his wife Dona plunged into a life of activism against youth violence.
The former rock guitarist from the riding of Surrey North quickly cut himself as a man of integrity, a man of the people and a man not swayed by the dark forces in politics.
He will always be remembered as the independent MP who stood up in Parliament on May 19, 2005 to save the Liberal government of Paul Martin in a no-confidence vote.
Cadman died of cancer two months after the vote. Martin’s government survived for another eight months.
Now, his wife, daughter, son-in-law and the Liberals that he helped save are questioning his honesty.
The family claims that Chuck told them that the Stephen Harper Conservatives approached him to swing the vote in their favour, dangling a bribe that included a million-dollar life insurance policy.
The allegation is contained in the upcoming book — Like a Rock: The Chuck Cadman Story — by Tom Zytaruk, an obscure Vancouver journalist who is armed with a confusing audio tape that indicates Harper knew about some contact being made with Cadman prior to the vote.
The “bribery” claims are contrary to what Cadman said on national television after the nail-biting May 2005 vote.
Cadman said the Tories offered him an unopposed nomination in his B.C. riding and that “was the only offer on anything that I had from anybody.”
But the anti-Harper forces do not want to believe what he said on national TV, opting to cast aspersions on the dead MP’s honour.
Was Cadman managing the truth or telling the truth on TV?
There is another side to this story that further tarnishes the reputation of the deceased MP.
While he was telling the world that he voted in favour of the 2005 budget because he was obeying the wishes of constituents, who did not want another federal election inside a year, Cadman privately told Mike Duffy of CTV that he could not bring down the Paul Martin government and force an election because he wanted to die as a sitting MP.
If he had forced an election and died during the campaign, he would not have been entitled to the same benefits.
Translated, he voted with his wallet to ensure his family was taken care of.
On the question of insurance, anyone knows an insurance company willing to underwrite a one-million-dollar policy for a terminally-ill man?
There are many other puzzling facets to the Cadman affair.Chief among them is why Dona Cadman, who calls the approach by the Tories a bribe, is running as Surrey North’s Conservative candidate in the next election.
It is unfortunate that Chuck Cadman is not around to answer some of these questions.
But then who would believe him anyway?
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