Chuck Cadman, 57; Independent Member of Canada Parliament
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Chuck Cadman, 57, the independent member of the Canadian Parliament whose May 19 vote enabled Prime Minister Paul Martin to remain in power, died Saturday of melanoma at his home in Surrey, British Columbia.
Cadman, who was first elected in 1997, flew to Ottawa for the May 19 confidence vote despite his chemotherapy treatment. He said he was casting his vote according to the wishes of constituents who did not want to face another election a year after giving the Liberals their shaky mandate. His vote siding with Martin’s Liberal Party tied the voting, allowing House Speaker Peter Milliken to cast the deciding vote for Martin.
A former rock guitarist who worked as an electronics technician, Cadman entered politics as a Reform Party candidate.
The party changed its name to the Canadian Alliance in 2000. He failed to win a Conservative Party nomination after the alliance merged with the conservatives in 2003, but won as an independent in 2004.
He first gained public attention as a crusader for victims’ rights after his 16-year-old son was stabbed to death in 1992 in a random street attack.
Cadman spent Canada’s last federal election day playing recorded music beside his son’s grave.
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