Neil Cameron, politician, academic, journalist and former Equality Party MNA, has died at 81

Politician Neil Cameron passes away Neil Cameron, an academic, journalist and politician has died following a long illness. He was 81.

Montreal — Neil Cameron, an academic, journalist and politician who marked Quebec history when he and three Equality Party colleagues were elected to the National Assembly in 1989, has died following a long illness.

He was 81.

Cameron was born in Weyburn, Sakatchewan, raised in Calgary and moved to Quebec in 1966 to study at Sir George Williams University and later at McGill University, where he would go on to earn a Ph.D. in history.

He taught history at John Abbott College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue for more than 30 years and also lectured at both Concordia and McGill.

In the early 1980s, Cameron also kicked off a long-running career as a journalist and columnist, with his work published in several local and national media over the years. He also continued publishing scholarly articles for decades.

In 1989, with language politics simmering in Quebec following the decision by the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa to use the notwithstanding clause to strengthen parts of Bill 101, Quebec's French-language law, Cameron and three colleagues - Robert Libman, Gordon Atkinson and Richard Holden - were elected to the National Assembly under the banner of The Equality Party, the anglo-rights party founded earlier that year.

Libman on Thursday remembered Cameron as a genuine person and a deep thinker. He was wise and fair and an honest poltician, Libman said.

"Neil Cameron was genuine. He was a man of convictions. He was an intellectual, a brilliant intellectual. He never argued based on political partisan rhetoric. He said what he believed in and stayed true to himself," he said.

The Equality Party's time in the legislature proved to be short-lived; before the next provincial election in 1994, three of the party's MNAs had quit the party - with Holden even defecting to the separatist Parti Quebecois.

Cameron, the lone remaining Equality Party MNA, ran for re-election in 1994 but was defeated in the West Island riding of Jacques-Cartier by Geoff Kelley of the Liberals, who would go on to represent the riding in the National Assembly for 24 years.

Greg Kelley, the current MNA for Jacques-Cartier - and Geoff Kelly's son - reported the news of Cameron's death on his Facebook page:

Cameron is survived by an ex-wife and two step-children who live in Ontario.

A memorial service for Cameron is to be held in January, but the date and location are yet to be determined.