I just had my last conversation with former federal cabinet minister John McDermid.
I know this because McDermid’s health had taken a turn for the worse. From the Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville, he told me he planned to undergo MAID — medical assistance in dying — on December 6, at the age of 84. By the time you read this, he’ll be gone.
“There’s no more fight left in me, Steve,” McDermid told me earlier this week. “I’m at peace with it.”
McDermid won four straight elections for the now defunct Progressive Conservative party in Brampton–Georgetown, starting in 1979. In 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney put him in cabinet (housing, international trade, privatization), which afforded him some memorable experiences. He met every Canadian prime minister starting with Pierre Trudeau. He met King Charles when he was married to Princess Diana. He met the king and queen of Spain, too.
“I’m one of the lucky guys,” McDermid said during our phone call. “I’ve had great friends. I’ve met kings and queens and rogues like Nicolae Ceaușescu [the former Romanian dictator].”
In recent years, his health began to deteriorate. He suffered a stroke and went through four knee operations but somehow managed to maintain a sunny disposition through it all. In more recent years, he contracted colitis and an infection of C. difficile, and he’d just had enough. A friend of his from his PC party days, George Stratton, suffered from terrible melanoma and decided to undergo MAID back in April. McDermid took note.
Back in February, I wrote another column about McDermid because, five years ago, he discovered something shocking about his life. He’d always suspected his birth had been the result of a high-school fling, because his birth mother had given him up for adoption. He was adopted by a loving family but didn’t find out until age 79 that he had four other siblings, all still alive. Then he discovered his birth father’s identity and the fact that he had three more siblings. McDermid considered this discovery the most wonderful and astonishing development of his life.
Left: John McDermid with former prime minister Brian Mulroney. Right: McDermid with Joe Clark, who urged him to run for MP in 1979. (Courtesy of John McDermid)
He never met his birth parents but established relationships with his newfound siblings.
“My siblings knew nothing about me,” McDermid told me back in February. “Then I dropped in out of nowhere, and they accepted me. And I so enjoyed their company. It happened so fast, my head spun around. It was a feeling of joy that came over me.”
Inevitably, our final conversation turned to politics. I asked McDermid what he thought about the results of the last American election.
“I’d rather not even mention his name!” he said of the once and future president Donald Trump.
John Laschinger (left), John McDermid, and the author at McDermid’s long-term-care residence in Orangeville on February 20. (Steve Paikin)
McDermid married twice. There were no children from either union. Notwithstanding his health problems, McDermid just seemed incredibly grateful for the life he lived.
“I am one of the luckiest guys in the world,” he said.
How do you finish a conversation that you know will be the last one you’ll ever have with someone? My lame attempt:
“Until we meet again,” I told McDermid.
“I hope so,” he responded, fighting back tears.
And so ended my conversation with one of the really good guys of politics. RIP John McDermid.
Donate