Jodi Cadman: I burst into tears

Jodi Cadman, daughter of late independent MP Chuck Cadman, gave a very thorough, frank and, I thought honest, interview on CPAC’s Goldhawk Live program tonight about the Cadman affair. A transcript of the interview follows:

Goldhawk: Why do you think your father, in the first place, told you about the insurance policy. Why do you think he did it, told you?

Cadman: It’s just speculation on my part because I never asked him why he was telling me. This came up of course, he had come back from Ottawa and I was out visiting him, I pretty much drove out there almost every day. Of course, we were talking about the vote, and I honestly wish I could remember how it segued into the conversation-

Goldhawk: But he offered it up, right?

Cadman: Yeah, he, you know to be honest I cannot recollect because he then told me that, you know, this stays between you and me, and-

Goldhawk: He didn’t want you to tell anybody?

Cadman: He didn’t want me to tell anyone, and that’s part of why I never wrote down anything, I didn’t catalogue all this, I never had any, any intention publically speaking about this.

Goldhawk: But he didn’t really offer you much detail about the insurance policy, and-

Cadman: No. The only thing he said to me was that there was a million dollar life insurance policy offered to him by the Tories.

Goldhawk: Yeah.

Cadman: And I was completely taken – I was angry. I was absolutely livid, and then I burst into tears because, just understanding – you know, he was in the last weeks of his life. There was a lot of people - people knew he was sick, but there was a lot of people that didn’t realize how sick he was, meaning he had just made that trip back to Ottawa-

Goldhawk: Yeah, he looked pretty healthy in front of the cameras. Everybody thought that.

Cadman: Exactly. And so there – people forget about that now. We can all say he only had six weeks to live, but, you know, the family was very privy to that and a lot of outside people didn’t realize that. So, when they say, you know, why would he spend this time, etcetera – you know, there’s just people who really don’t know the inside story of that.

Goldhawk: Yeah.

Cadman: He was very lucid at the time so anyone saying that he was confused or on medication, etcetera, that’s absolutely not true.

Goldhawk: You don’t buy that?

Cadman: No. It was not true.

Goldhawk: Was he, when he told you about the insurance policy offer, was he, was he angry? Was he telling it to you out of anger, or was he saying boy, get a load of this? Was it that kind of a thing?

Cadman: It was, you know, it’s hard to say for me because he was weak at the time, and, I think he had already processed a lot of that, you know, and when he told me I was so angry he then took the standard father approach and calmed me down.

Goldhawk: Yes, of course.

Cadman: And I, I did ask him, actually I said well what did the Liberals offer you? And that just kind of stemmed to because people implied the Liberals must have offered him something-

Goldhawk: Right.

Cadman: And he had said nothing, and he laughed when he said that. And that made me laugh, because we both kind of saw the joke in that, because after the vote, I mean if you read some of the message boards, and I should know by now not to go on line and read some of this stuff. You know, he must have been in the Liberals’ back pocket was a lot of things that were said. Me knowing the information he told me, that was really hard for me to take for awhile after that. It took a lot of self-control for me in the early days there not to phone-up a radio station or something and kind of blurt all of this out. But it wasn’t my fight to make, it was his fight. He choose not to, for whatever reason.

Goldhawk: Why do you think he told various interviewers, and this is somewhat complicated and complex, because the conditions differed between interviewers, why did he seem to indicate that there were no offers? Do you have a theory about that?

Cadman: Really it is speculation on my part, I have to say that off the top-

Goldhawk: Who better to speculate then you?

Cadman: I know, but I have to say that flat-out, he didn’t tell me per se. Um, look at what’s happening right now. All this controversy, and, there is no proof. There’s no paper-trail, there’s no, you know, e-mails to follow. I don’t really know what is going to come out of this. If it’s his word and, I guess in essence, my word and my mom’s word against, I don’t know, the government? And even his own words I guess to a certain degree on some of those interviews. I mean, I just don’t think in some ways it was worth the fight for him, in the fact that there was no proof.

Goldhawk: So he would have made that judgment, that’s what you’re saying? He might have made that judgment, that, what’s the use of bringing this out into the public eye at this point?

Cadman: And if there is no hard evidence, I just can’t see, the kind of letter of the law type guy that he was, knowing full well, you know – it’s just talk. That’s my gut reaction on it.

Goldhawk: Jodi, why are you talking now?

Cadman: I had no intention of talking about it, and in fact this is where it gets very personal and it’s actually a really a difficult time for me in my relationship with my mother. I didn’t know that this was in the book. I found out Wednesday night.

Goldhawk: Had you known it was in the book, would you have, how would you have reacted to it?

Cadman: I would have told my mom you’ve got to be kidding, and I told her this. And I did get a hold of her last night and I honestly think that this was a wrong decision on her part, and my reason for saying that-

Goldhawk: What was the wrong decision? I’m sorry.

Cadman: Moving forward and talking about this. It was my dad’s fight. He chose not to fight it. I don’t think we had a right to come forward when he told me in confidence. That’s just my personal feeling on it. The one thing I cannot fault her for – it is the truth, and I can respect that. It’s just more so the decision to come forward and do it that I’m having a bit of a problem with. On a personal level.

Goldhawk: Well I’m sure your mother is having her own problems politically, is she not?

Cadman: Mmm hmm. Yep. And I’m not so sure why she did this. I did ask her and her answer to me was well, it’s the truth. You know, with all due respect to my mother, I just think that’s a really naive attitude to take.

Goldhawk: Well, it’s out there now isn’t it?

Cadman: Yeah.

Goldhawk: What are your expectations, if any, about what will happen now?

Cadman: I’m not so sure. I would assume everyone’s going to be demanding an inquiry of some sort, and, you know, if they can find some different evidence or whatever you want to call it I’m all for it. I just really don’t think there’s anything there. So I think it’s going to be much ado about nothing and nobody’s winning on this.

Goldhawk: In any event, you know what your father told you.

Cadman: I do, and I can with a clear conscience say I believe him. There would be no reason for him not to tell me the truth.

Goldhawk: Do you do this, speaking out publically, at some expense to yourself do you think?

Cadman: Oh yeah. This has been, it’s been really, as I said difficult for some of the reasons I’ve stated just in regards to – I really didn’t want to do this. When it came forward, and once again even on that first day, I wasn’t going to say anything until people were basically standing up and implying that my mom is lying, or that there’s no element of truth. And so if they’re going to either directly or indirectly call her a liar then I, with the information I have, I felt compelled to come forward, and you have to lump me into the same category them, because I was told the same thing.

Goldhawk: Even though your dad didn’t want you to tell anyone, do you think at this point he’d ne proud of you for what you’ve done?

Cadman: I hope so. Standing up for, you know, and once again I have to come forward with the information I know, no matter how difficult it is. But I would never have volunteered, so to speak.

Goldhawk: Jodi Cadman, thank-you very much for spending some time with is this evening. I appreciate it.

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