Bunker Boys

There was a time, not too long ago, when Ontario’s Progressive Conservative political strategists liberally used the term “big blue machine” to describe themselves.

During the era of Premier Bill Davis, experienced backroom boys such as Dalton Camp and Norman Atkins were skilled political operators with sharp wits and keen minds. They kept their boss high in the polls and popular with the Ontario electorate. (There is a certain irony that left-leaning Red Tories controlled this machine, but I digress.)

Yet, as former federal Progressive Conservative member of Parliament J. Patrick Boyer writes in his intriguing new book, The Big Blue Machine: How Tory Campaign Backrooms Changed Canadian Politics Forever, their influential hand stretched much further. The roots of the Camp/Atkins alliance go back to the 1950s and involve several provincial and federal elections. While distinctly Canadian in outlook and style, there were also dashes of British and...