The Player: The Life and Times of Dalton Camp Hardcover - 2003

From the publisher

In his final years, Dalton Camp was working on a memoir of the latter half of his life. The Player draws on the manuscript of that memoir, and so, once again, Canadians can take pleasure in the voice and the wisdom of Dalton Camp. Dalton Camp left deep impressions on the Canadian political landscape. His skill as a political strategist and advertising genius revived the fortunes of the Conservatives in the Maritime provinces. His hard-won reforms in the federal Tory party democratized the practices of both major parties. Following his second unsuccessful attempt to win a seat in Parliament in 1968, Camp moved seamlessly from the role of political insider to that of political pundit. His gracefully crafted newspaper columns, written twice weekly and syndicated nationally, set the standard for political analysis in Canada. In 1986, Camp accepted Brian Mulroney's invitation to join the Prime Minister's Office as a senior policy advisor. Camp later called this the worst mistake he ever made. He left Ottawa two-and-a-half years later, his health ravaged, his marriage in ruins and his disenchantment with Mulroney deep and abiding. A heart transplant in 1993 gave him a new lease on life, extending it by more than eight productive years. To the very end of his life, Dalton Camp found fulfillment in his role as Canada's most respected political columnist. He took great delight in his weekly radio debates on CBC's Morningside, with Eric Kierans and Stephen Lewis. He died on March 18, 2002.