I suspect Chuck Cadman was one sick puppy when he last headed off to Ottawa to fortunately help a minority government survive.

It must have been a very long flight from Vancouver for him and I certainly appreciate that he made it.

One thing is for certain. Chuck Cadman was nobody's backbencher.

He'll be missed.

That old Ben E. King, song "Stand by Me" comes to mind when I think of Chuck Cadman... he stood by his beliefs as well as by the many people in his life...especially in honouring the memory of his son.

It's so sad.

Yes, Allan, that is a long flight. I hope he was able to go ;first class; to make it a bit more comfortable.

'Stand By Me' is an apt song, Lynn.

What a guy, he cut threw all the opportunism going on. I remember one conservative slamming him for supporting the
liberals, he responded by saying , I am not supporting the Liberals but I am supporting the wishes of my constituents
that elected me to serve them. I have have polled my area and the vast majority do not want an election now, plus allot of the items in the new budget will bring real benefits to the folks of my riding.

Then the critic went on to say that he was elected to make decisions not go with the whims of his constituents , outrageous but typical attitude . We will miss you Chuck, Thanks for always doing the right thing and not a political whore. Hopefully some of you will rub off on others in the house.

I dunno. I really liked Chuck. Very fond, and I last spoke to him at his nomination meeting.

He was kind of a one issue candidate, and never really diversified. He didn't really build a strong base in his riding association - this could be a sign that he wasn't listening, but it could also mean any number of other things I suppose.

I always thought showing up in the House of Commons dressed the way he did showed a lack of respect for the house itself.

And his vote? Propped up a non-productive government for another year, or so. He said so himself - Ottawa is not functioning, and I'm not sure that Chuck did us any favours.

Personally I liked him though, and would have been happy to work on his campaign if opportunity arose.

oh quietpenguin..your're such a rebel...NOT
Just because the vast majority of white collar workers and businessmen are slaves to a uniform (the tie is like a noose or a leash..literally) doesn't mean that you show disrespect by not donning the uniform like a mindless zombie. Who makes these rules and why should we conform to them?
You have identified yourself as a CCRAP supporter so I am not surprised by your comments

Despite what the MSM is telling you, this government is not a dictatorship like governments past. More is getting done
than ever before, we have same sex marriage passed, we have more money for the environment , housing and lower
tuition. Paul Martin wanted to shell out 4 billion in tax cuts to corporations which he never campaigned on. An election
would have maybe the conservatives with a minority or worse and a huge victory for the bloc in Quebec, I guess Stevie was willing to break up the country over power, you see chuck as a guy who does not wear a tie and I see someone who
put his constituents first. His riding is in a very poor area, one which will benefit from the new budget.

I was continually impressed by Mr. Cadman's (he certainly earned the right to some respect) quiet determination to hew to a course that leads to a civil society. After the death of his son, Jesse, he apparently made a decision that things couln't possibly get better unless he accepted some personal responsibility and applied himself to marking a better course. I stand to be corrected, but never once did I hear or read an account of him being "political" or indulging in the type of shrill histrionics that so many of his former colleagues are famous for.
He seemed a thoughtful, honorable man to whom the reward of public service lay in a sense of accomplishment... not wealth or self-aggrandisement. I also doubt that the toadying we see so much of in all parties was a possibility for Mr. Cadman. His integrity wasn't to be had for a junket.
Perhaps the greatest legacy of his time in the public arena is that he has shown that you don't need to be wealthy or glib or even have the unreasoning support of a peer group to be successful in politics --- you just have to be honourable.

Oh sleeps. I'm so far from a CCRAP supporter it's not funny. I've done some work on that end of things in the past, flat out absolutely refused to join the party. Wouldn't even touch it.

I would have, however, supported Chuck as I've said. At least he was honest, and called a spade a spade.

But the house deserves respect. Constitutents deserve respect. I never suggested that Chuck had to wear a tie...one doesn't have to wear a tie, but Chuck often showed up in the house looking like he'd just gotten back from a duck hunt.

FWIW, some Speakers have been known to not recognize members who were not appropriately attired. Parliamentary tradition allows it.

I still miss Chuck, but I'm not sure the deification of him that happened around his budget vote was completely deserved.

quiet penguin

Do I have to point out all the back handed cheap shots you took at CC a couple of days ago? You have a funny way of showing your like for him in an online memorial. Believe me..I know all about cheap shots.
Since CC didn't need a nomination meeting for his campaign as an independant you can only be refering to his CCRAP nomination...if you never joined...how do you wind up at Nday?
are you erin airhead?

I agreed with much of Cadman's campaign for victim's rights and the public's right to be protected from violent offenders who demonstrate repeating patterns of violent anti-social behaviour.
Where the "get tough" Conservative crowd loses me is on drug issues. Many of them would prefer a US style war on drugs,while I am for decriminalizing/legalizing drugs in general, treating them as medical rather than criminal problems. It's the illegality of drugs that produces more real crime : break ins, theft, and some violence. Having been on then receiving end of more than one home break in, and of numerous car break ins, I'd like to see some underlying causes addressed : drug illegality, and a justice system that treats so-called property crime (it's people that are violated, not property)as a joke.Thieves with records as long as your arm, instead of being taken out of circulation, are allowed free reign to continue victimizing others over and over, with little disincentive to stop. Vancouver now has an ingrained culture, not just of drugs, but a culture of crime, with I believe , the 2nd worst property crime rate in North America!
This is both intolerable and unnecessary. I laugh when I read stories about Vancouver being
voted "most liveable city" (evidently, the voters never actually lived here to experience our crime rate 1st hand)!
Chuck Cadman's death is a real loss.Canada needs more politicians like him.

I didn't take any back handed cheap shots. I'm just being honest.

He was a good man who believed strongly in one issue, an important one at that. That didn't make him a great politician.

Nor does the fact that I don't consider him a great politician affect my perception of him as a man.

And yes I was at the Conservative nomination meeting - this does not imply that I was a member. Now that I think about it, I saw him a little bit after he'd announced his election campaign, at Kevin Falcon's Beans and Jeans fundraiser in Cloverdale. We had a good chat.

No I am not Erin Airton. Talk about cheap shots.

you went to a kevin falcon fundraiser? Thats Gross!

erin airhead, I like it!

it seems airhead is a big supporter of the naikun wind farms project in the hecate which will have the people who have to navigater those waters up in arms!

http://www.naikun.ca/

dam I despise these neocons! They won't quit until they have cut down every tree polluted every lake and river and, we have to chew our air then maybe they will wake up but I doubt it! Too greedy and too stupid!

QP
Those are not two sentences that work well together for you....let's recap

He was kind of a one issue candidate, and never really diversified. He didn't really build a strong base in his riding association - this could be a sign that he wasn't listening, but it could also mean any number of other things I suppose.

I always thought showing up in the House of Commons dressed the way he did showed a lack of respect for the house itself.

And his vote? Propped up a non-productive government for another year, or so. He said so himself - Ottawa is not functioning, and I'm not sure that Chuck did us any favours.

Personally I liked him though, and would have been happy to work on his campaign if opportunity arose.

I nearly bust a gut when I read your opening line...the very same way I busted a gut reading your first post....you didn't spare him much at all...you question his capabilities and damn him with faint praise at every turn....just like a tabloid journalist/copy writer/pledge

but you gracefully back stepped a bunch and basically and you were still able to give him a 'good budy' slap on the back on the way out...yet on the other hand you say...

ouch....you said..

And his vote? Propped up a non-productive government for another year, or so. He said so himself - Ottawa is not functioning, and I'm not sure that Chuck did us any favours.

you may not want my advice qp but you keep practicing like that and FOX will be dangling yankee candy in your face real soon..
Chuck was real lucky you didn't get to work on his campaign

Was Chuck a hippy?

Chuck belonged to the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties before running as an independent.

I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but, is Chuck Cadman someone we should admire?

I knew next to nothing about the man, but since he was the same age as myself, I always noticed his long hair.

What did his long hair mean? Or, was it just a leftover fashion statement from the 60s.

I have always considered Reform and Canadian Alliance folks as rednecks, bigots, and law and order, wannabe fascists. If Chuck's political friends had been elected, Canada would have troops on the ground in Iraq. His political friends would gladly follow and support the US War on Drugs. There would be more cannabis users in jail in Canada.

Did Chuck ever speak out against the War on Drugs? against marijuana prohibition? against US empire building?

Yes, the murder of his son was a terrible tragedy, but, does that make him a hero? Did he offer any positive solutions for young offenders, other than the usual lock them up and throw away the key?

Yes, Cadman played a pivotal role in averting a snap election on May 19, when he sided with Prime Minister Paul Martin and the Liberals in a confidence vote. He voted the way his constituents wanted. However, he, also, saved the Tories from an election disaster.
(He was only an independent because he lost the Conservative Party nomination.) Does this make him a hero?

If you watched television lately, you would think that Canada's greatest hero had just died. Yes, Chuck had a quiet dignified style, but, so what?

Did I miss something?

Herb

p.s.

Chuck spouting anti-marijuana propaganda:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/3/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/016_2004-02-23/han016_1310-E.htm

'(the tie is like a noose or a leash..literally)'
in the midst of a little holiday it's wonderful to check in and see that you're still perpetrating each other's rubbish on this site. the above line by sleepy really typifies the ridiculuous rhetoric that is spewed here. thank god this trip has reaffirmed that the good people of b.c. have no use for the outdated naive lefty viewpoints displayed here. perhaps commercial drive and lasqueti island should separate.

Herb: Chuck can be given credit for deciding NOT to rejoin the CCRAPers, presumably, partly because he likely diverged with them on a number of issues. He was never a conservative poster boy.
Thanks for the link about the grow-ops comment. I do find his comments somewhat disappointing, but it's evident he made those statements based partly on constituent concerns, probably based on much feedback from voters. You don't cite him as having come out against the Liberals' plan to decriminalize possession of small quantities of Cannabis. His concern appears to be grow ops only. As he points out, the Liberals' new bill is "anti-grow op" as it doubles maximum sentences for large scale g-ops.Chuck also sounds like an opposition politician here, spouting typical criticisms of the Gov't as "not doing enough", and he's likely playing to a home riding audience, to raise his own standing in the eyes of voters, in a riding where "epidemic" grow ops are viewed (rightly or wrongly) as a serious problem. To me, this isn't Cadman at his most laudable, but I don't write him off entirely
(as you seem have done) just because I disagree with him on some issues.

If you go back and read all of my posts in this thread you will notice that other than defending Chucks' choice of atire I didn't have anything to say about him..good or bad.
Those who have read my output on the tyee know that I float my boat by taking hard shots at right wingers..when I read qp's eulogy for cc I had to sharpen the claws and have a go.

SJO
You must have found some really hot sun and got your brain fried....your're losing it SJO or is it Robin Sharpe.

Herb:

You asked, "What does his long hair mean?"
Aside from just being the way he liked to wear his hair, Chuck Cadman made a promise to his late son Jesse to honour him by growing his hair (among other things, not the least of which included lobbying tirelessly for crime victims' rights, which he was modestly successful in doing with changes to the Young Offenders' Act).
Does anyone feel more comfortable with a closely shorn, pasty-faced Stephen Harper making the summer BBQ rounds sans tie?
Shiver... someone book that man a tanning salon appointment.

Herb:

It always kind of irks me when I see people connect the original Reform party to the Conservatives of today. The reform was a western protest party, composed of a huge mix of candidates, who often brought real constituent issues to the foreground. Yes, many were law and order, but they also were advocating real political reforms as well, of which almost all real substance has now been gutted.

Cadman had his issues, but he was genuine in them. IF you look at the policy book of the reform, with that of the conservatives, you will see very few of the same ones. (even if they were penned by some of the same people.)

It is be interesting to think how he was remembered had he not "saved" the government. In the end, those who seem the least befallen to his memory, are the ones (amonst them a lot of tories) who his achievements should have endeared him to. In the end, ironically, it was his nomination loss that most solidified his memory.

Hey! Quiet Penguin, just because your dress code is a suit & tie, not wearing one doesn't mean beans.
To most of the worlds population, whose world is is being turned inside out,SUITER'S are seen as POWER.
At the end of his parlimentary career,it was a non-suiter who had the POWER.
That's what I call poetic justice.

Chuck Cadman was an individual whose likes will not tread the halls of Parliment for many a year as most are wimps,who monkey see monkey do