John McDermid

John Horton McDermid, PC, FRI (17 March 1940 – 6 December 2024) was a Canadian politician.

Born as David Michael Date to a teenage mother, he was adopted by Reverend John McDermid and his wife, Nora.

McDermid worked in marketing, public relations and broadcasting before he entered politics. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1979 federal election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Brampton—Georgetown outside of Toronto, Ontario.

He was re-elected in the 1980, 1984 and 1988 elections. He became a parliamentary secretary when the Tories took power in 1984. From 1988 to 1993, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as series of junior minister positions: Minister of State for Housing (1988–1989), International Trade (1988-1989), Privatization and Regulatory Affairs (1989–1991), and Finance and Privatization (1991–1993).

He left Cabinet with the departure of Mulroney as Prime Minister of Canada in June 1993, and did not run in the 1993 federal election.

McDermid received the Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) in his role as Lieutenant Colonel, the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and the King Charles III Coronation Medal (2024).

McDermid died through euthanasia on 6 December 2024, at the age of 84.