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Dalton Kingsley CampPC OC (September 11, 1920 – March 18, 2002) was aCanadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator, and supporter of theProgressive Conservative Party of Canada. Although he was never elected to a seat in theCanadian House of Commons, he was a prominent and influential politician and a popular commentator for decades. He is a central figure inRed Toryism.
Camp was born inWoodstock, New Brunswick. His father was aBaptist minister whose work took his family toConnecticut and laterCalifornia. Upon his father's death in 1937, Camp's mother and her children returned to their hometown of Woodstock.
Camp soon enrolled in undergraduate studies atAcadia University, but his time there was interrupted by enlistment in theCanadian Army during theSecond World War. After the war, Camp finished his undergraduate studies in the liberal arts at theUniversity of New Brunswick, followed by graduate studies in journalism atColumbia University and political science at theLondon School of Economics.
His daughterCherie Camp has worked as a musician and actress.[1]
While involved in studies at the University of New Brunswick, Camp worked briefly for theLiberal Party of Canada and its provincial wing, theNew Brunswick Liberal Association. Later, Camp was heavily influenced by his studies at theLondon School of Economics, and upon his return to Canada, he sought to distance himself from what he now felt was the arrogance of "Canada's Ruling Party," the Liberals. Camp had some socialist beliefs which attracted him to the Liberal Party, but he was also attracted to the traditions of Canadian conservatism and so he ultimately found a political home within theRed Tory wing of theProgressive Conservative Party of Canada.
Living inToronto in the 1950s, Camp worked with severalpublic relations firms and through his speaking, organizational, and political abilities was influential during several provincial elections in Canada that saw Progressive Conservative governments elected for the first time in more than a generation. Camp was also instrumental in helpingJohn Diefenbaker, the leader of the federal party, win elections in 1957 and 1958 although he personally mistrusted Diefenbaker. After the PC defeat toLester Pearson's Liberals in 1963, Camp sought to reorganize the party, and he became president of the national party the following year.
Faced with evidence that most of the party was unhappy with Diefenbaker's policies, which were increasingly eccentric and autocratic, Camp led a grassroots campaign within the party for aleadership review. After the decision was made to have a leadership convention in 1967, Camp left the presidency of the party and briefly considered campaigning for leadership of the party, but whenRobert Stanfield decided to run, Camp lent his support to Stanfield's campaign.
Camp ran as a candidate for Parliament in the1963 and1968 elections, but he personally failed to be elected.
Camp retired as a politician and pursued interests in advertising, political commentary, and journalism. He headed an advertising firm, aptly namedCamp Associates. In the 1980s and the 1990s, he became a regular political commentator onCBC'sMorningside, along withStephen Lewis andEric Kierans, and he was a biweekly political writer for theToronto Star newspaper. He also wrote regular columns for theToronto Sun and theSaint John Telegraph-Journal newspapers for many years.
Camp returned briefly to active politics when he was named a senior advisor to Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney's staff from 1986 to 1989, including consulting for the1988 election, which saw Mulroney's government campaign for afree trade agreement with theUnited States. Camp left politics in 1989 with some disillusionment toward the increasingBlue Tory policies of Mulroney's government and several decisions that were leading to western disillusionment in the caucus. That would become evident when theReform Party of Canada was established.
In 1993, he was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada.
Camp underwent aheart transplant in 1993, the oldest person in Canada to do so at the time,[2] and he continued to write and give political commentary from his home inJemseg, New Brunswick.
He experienced astroke in February 2002, which led to his death a month later at a hospital inFredericton.