Longtime John Abbott history teacher Neil Cameron, best known as one of four candidates to win seats for the upstart Equality Party in the 1989 provincial elections, has died in Montreal of kidney failure.Cameron, to those who know him, was a uniquely thought-provoking raconteur with an uncanny ability to sustain an endless and compelling monologue, referencing subjects ranging from from Le Mans race car drivers to Montreal cinema to Sartre's hits-and-misses.
For decades Cameron cut a familiar figure in bars on Crescent and Bishop, where his well-constructed diatribes and total recall of minute detail, often took aim at high-minded progressives. Observers would note that his memory for detail would miraculously only sharpen with each drink.
Cameron was as surprised as anybody in 1989 when voters preferred him over Joan Doherty in his West End seat, as his anglo-rights party stunned onlookers by wresting four seats in the provincial legislature.
He later freely shared his insights into provincial politics with all who asked.
Had he penned a memoir, it would not have been kind to Richard Holden, a fellow Equality Party member who turned coat and joined the government, leaving the fledgling upstarts weakened.
Cameron's fresh eyes on provincial politics noted that Premier Bourassa dictated every detail of the provincial budget, with his finance minister Gerard D. Levesque serving as a powerless figurehead. Cameron also marveled at the slick tactics employed by the powerful Quebec agricultural lobby.
Cameron credited a handful of ideological opponents in the Parti Quebecois whom he held in high esteem for their kindness, hard work and intelligence.
Cameron was raised in Calgary by a single mother after his father died when Neil was three. He moved to Montreal near Jeanne Mance and Milton in 1962 where he attended McGill and worked on an unfinished PhD, largely about Ernest Rutherford, whose work splitting the atom Cameron greatly admired.
In later years Cameron lived alone in a modest apartment on Prudhomme just above Sherbrooke. He never fathered children but spent Christmases in Toronto with his ex-wife and two stepchildren - whom he cared for deeply.
Cameron was a longtime active member of the Twenty Club that has met regularly for over 90 years in Montreal to debate issues of the day and also included members such as Richard Lord, Warren Allmand, Carman Miller, Michael Fish and many other notables.
Cameron long battled health issues but credited his doctors with prescribing him medications that did much to get his weight down. Only during the last few months did his breathing and kidney issues become insurmountable.
Cameron died on Wednesday December 18, 2019 after a recent stay at the Glen Superhospital where he declined an offer of dialysis. A service for Cameron has been slated for mid-January.