Talk of the Town

The Life and Times of Dalton Camp

Thu. Oct.16th, 7:30-9:00 pm

With: Geoffrey Stevens, Author Of The Player, Key Porter Books, 2003

For more than 50 years, Dalton Camp was an influential figure and powerful voice in the public affairs of this country. In politics he ran 27 election campaigns, advised three Prime Ministers and introduced the notion of democracy within Canadian political parties. As a journalist, his thoughtful analyses, trenchant critiques and wry observations reached millions of Canadians through his newspaper columns and his participation in the Camp-Kierans & Lewis political panel on CBC Radio's Morningside. He was the embodiment of the Red Tory, that curious political animal that helps define and distinguish Canadian politics. Geoffrey Stevens new biography, The Player, explores Camp's accomplishments in public life, but also provides insight into his complicated personal and private life.

The discussion will take place at UBC's Robson Square campus. Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604-822-1700.

Here is how the book is described by the publisher:

Drawing on exclusive access to Dalton Camp's unpublished writings, including an unfinished memoir, archival and family papers, along with thousands of newspaper columns and scores of interviews with family members and colleagues, Geoffrey Stevens tells the story of a remarkable life in politics and journalism -the professional triumphs, personal heartbreak and frustrated ambitions of one of the great players in Canadian public life.

Dalton Camp had three brilliant careers: advertising made him wealthy; politics made him famous and brought him within reach of the prime minister's office; and journalism gave him far-reaching influence across Canada. Exceptional as he was, Dalton Camp reflected the values that most Canadians hold dear. He stood resolutely against the forces of bigotry, intolerance and extremism. As a writer, he became the witty and powerful voice of moderation in public affairs, a shrewd spokesman for the thoughtful centre-always intelligent and unfailingly democratic.

Dalton Camp will be remembered in Canadian political history as the man who brought democracy to the Conservative Party and ended the leadership of John Diefenbaker. In his prime, Dalton Camp came within 48 hours of announcing his own leadership bid. When circumstances conspired to deny his ambition, Camp shifted gears and careers. In his later years, he retreated to his beloved New Brunswick where he lived the life of a reclusive writer. Yet the more he tried to cut himself off from the outside world, the greater his influence grew. Prime ministers phoned to seek his advice, provincial premiers dropped by and backroom politicians relied on his guidance. By the time he died on March 18, 2002, at the age of 81, Dalton Camp had made an indelible mark on the public landscape of Canada. A conservative with a liberal conscience, he left a void that no one has come close to filling.

You can get more information at the Key Porter Books web site: http://www.keyporter.com/book_detail.cfm?BookContentID=93326BF4-AD51-4B4A-BA24-CAEC1239BE0E.

About The Author

Geoffrey Stevens is one of Canada's best-known political analysts. He spent 15 years in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa, the last eight as The Globe and Mail's associate editor and national political columnist. He has also been managing editor of both The Globe and Maclean's magazine. Today, he teaches "Politics and the Media" in the political science department at the University of Toronto, where he is a senior resident at Massey College. He is the author of Stanfield; Leaders and Lesser Mortals: Backroom Politics in Canada, with John Laschinger; and No Holds Barred, with John Crosbie. He and his wife, Lin Clarkson Stevens, live with their children in Cambridge, Ontario.

Bibliography

• No Holds Barred: My Life in Politics, John Crosbie and Geoffrey Stevens, McClelland & Stewart, 1997
• Leaders and Lesser Mortals: Backroom Politics in Canada, (John Laschinger) Key Porter, 1992
• Stanfield, McClelland & Stewart, 1973

Links & Readings

Links

Reflections on Contemporary Politics in Canada

A speech Dalton Camp delivered at St. Francis Xavier University for the Third Allan J. MacEachen Lecture in February 2000.

Neo-Conservatism: How to Wreck a Country Without a Hammer (Part II)

This is a speech Camp delivered as the Stanley Knowles Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies at the University of Waterloo in March 2000.

A Few Good Women

A Dalton Camp column from May 2001.

Dalton Camp is No Summer Camps

Larry Zolf's obituary from March 2002 is a fond, personal, anecdotal account of their relationship.