It was on this date in 1920 that my columnist hero Dalton K. Camp was born. I read his book, Gentlemen, Players and Politicians, in high-school and it was one of the volumes that sparked my life-long interest in Canadian politics and public service. After journalism studies at New York's Columbia University, Mr. Camp entered the advertising and political worlds to great success. Soon, he was party president of his beloved national Tory party. But for me, it was his columns, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, that spoke to me. Each one, to me at least back then, displayed his love of Canada and his belief in Red Toryism. This appealed to me, in particular, in the 1990s when it seemed all of our parties were hell-bent on pursuing a more conservative approach to government. During that period I even wrote a column suggesting Mr. Camp should become Prime Minister to take us back to a more traditional Canadian politics.  After he read it, he called me, asking if he could give me some advice. I eagerly agreed. Receiving sage advice, after all, directly from your hero, is rare in life. “Mr. Milnes,” he said, “I have been writing columns for a long time. And, you will learn that sometimes you have to careful what you write in one of them because sometimes people believe them!” It was a remarkable moment for me and I chuckled for days. But I also, in a small way, took his advice to mean that good columnists never take themselves too seriously. So, here’s to the memory of this outstanding Canadian on what would have been his 101^st birthday. You could agree with this proud son of New Brunswick’s columns on any given day, or you could disagree. But what you could never do is question this special man’s Canadian patriotism and confidence in our country itself. caption id="attachment_583596" align="alignleft" width="202" Dalton Camp/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.