Howard Richmond McDiarmid (June 3, 1927 – August 25, 2010) was a physician and political figure in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He represented Alberni in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1966 to 1972 as a

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

member. Born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in 1927, he grew up in the Canadian prairies and was educated in medicine at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Vancouver General Hospital Vancouver General Hospital (locally known as VGH, or Vancouver General) is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest facility in the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) group of medical facilit ...

and moved to

Tofino Tofino ( ) is a town of approximately 2,516 residents on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The District of Tofino is located at the western terminus of Highway 4 on the tip of the Esowista Peninsu ...

in 1955. He was the only physician there until 1972, delivering more than 100 babies a year. McDiarmid married Lynn Honeyman, a nurse he had met in Banff while he was a student. In the 1970s, he helped establish

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a national park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. Its the Pacific Coast Mountains, are characterized ...

. With his son Charles, he opened the

Wickaninnish Inn Wickaninnish (; meaning "Nobody sits or stands before him in the canoe") was a tribal chief, chief of the Tla-o-qui-aht people of Clayoquot Sound, on what is now Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, in the 1780s and 1790s, during the opening ...

in Tofino in August, 1996. McDiarmid later practised in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and then

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He wrote ''Pacific Rim Park: a country doctor's role in preserving Long Beach and establishing the new Wickaninnish Inn'' (), published in 2009. On August 25, 2010, McDiarmid died of cancer at

Royal Jubilee Hospital Royal Jubilee Hospital is a 500-bed general hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada located about east of the city centre, in the Jubilee neighbourhood (itself named after the hospital). Overview Its name commemorates the Golden Jubilee ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

at the age of 83.

References

1927 births 2010 deaths British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Politicians from Edmonton {{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub