Marion Dewar…hockey grandmom

Posted by padams under Election 2008

Paul Adams

Marion Dewar, the former mayor of Ottawa, who passed away yesterday, was also a Member of Parliament briefly, and her son, Paul, is now running for re-election in Ottawa Centre. She was a legend in Ottawa for her social commitment which began long before she became mayor and continued long afterward.

Among her many activities, Ms. Dewar was a regular supporter last season at the games of the Sandy Hill Ice Wolves, on which her grandson, Jordan, and my son, Alex, were teammates.

As often happens with teammates, for some reason Alex ended up on an extended ride in the back of the Dewar family mini-van, and was seated beside Ms. Dewar. He later told me later how “interesting” and “nice” Jordan’s grandmother was. Somehow the octogenarian had connected with the nine-year-old. When I told him a little about her political career at the time, he was very impressed.

Both Alex and I were very saddened by the news of Marion Dewar’s death. She was a model not just of public commitment but of perfect grace.

She’ll be missed down at the rink.

Paul Adams is a former political reporter with the CBC and the Globe and Mail, and is now a member of Carleton’s journalism faculty, and executive director of EKOS Research Associates.