Norman Atkins

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Norman "Norm" Kempton Atkins, BA , DCL (born June 27, 1934 in Montclair, New Jersey, United States) is a Canadian Senator and political figure.

He is a graduate of Appleby College in Oakville and of Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he completed the Bachelor of Arts program in 1957. Senator Atkins subsequently received an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law in 2000, from Acadia University.

Atkins was a leading figure in advertising and a senior Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada strategist.

He was especially associated with the Big Blue Machine that helped elect the Ontario PC Party under Bill Davis. In the 1980s, he was a strategist for the federal Tories led by Brian Mulroney who recommended his appointment to the Senate in 1986.

Atkins opposed the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party with the Canadian Alliance, and to date has refused to join the product of that merger, the Conservative Party of Canada. Instead, he continues to sit in the Senate as a "Progressive Conservative" along with Lowell Murray and Elaine McCoy. He has not ruled out joining the new Conservative Party caucus in the future, and in February 2004 said "I will be watching with interest, both the Leadership and the policies of the new party, to see whether they address my concerns. It is my hope that they will reflect the values and beliefs Progressive Conservatives hold so strongly".

On February 27, 2007, Atkins was elected vice-chairman of the Senate's National Security and Defence Committee. He was elected with the support of defiant Liberal senators after moderate Conservative Senator Michael Meighen resigned his position at the direction Prime Minister's Office who reportedly wished to install a more ideologically conservative co-chair.[1]

Atkins is scheduled to retire from the Senate in 2009.