Career
McDermid worked in marketing, public relations and broadcasting before entered politics. 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.