How are we to assess Gordon Campbell’s decade-long premiership of British Columbia? While to many he was an ideologue set on revolutionizing provincial politics, he was a far more complex figure – polarizing and unpopular, but also a shrewd party manager and successful political operator. Beginning with a detailed account of Gordon Campbell’s pre–Liberal Party political activities, The Campbell Revolution? then takes a broad look at the policy options open to him in the context of the neoliberal revolution that swept across Canada and elsewhere in the 1980s and 1990s. Contributors discuss the Campbell administration's reforms in social, environmental, and economic policies, focusing on tax system reform, the arts and culture sector, healthcare, and urban development in the context of the 2010 Winter Olympics. More than just a narrative of the career of an enigmatic public official, this book looks at specific public policy examples and asks whether Campbell led a revolution or simply rode a wave of change that had begun years before he came to power. A comprehensive examination of Gordon Campbell’s leadership and governance style and the ideological underpinnings of BC’s Liberal Party, The Campbell Revolution? examines how the Campbell administration attempted to transform politics in British Columbia in the twenty-first century.

Leaving his Pennsylvania steel town home as a young man, author Kenneth D. Campbell scrambled to land a magazine writers job in Manhattan. He followed his new bosss instruction to Watch that rat hole, newspaper slang for a beat or coverage topic. Campbells rat hole was the real estate investment trusts or REITs, untested entities just approved by Congress. In Watch that Rat Hole, Campbell intertwines his personal journey with his unique observations as an investment newsletter editor witnessing the REIT Revolutionhis rat hole. He tells how that casual assignment became a distinguished lifework in three areas: WritingCampbell wrote an influential REIT stock market newsletter and co-authored the first hardcover REIT book; Investment bankingHe and his partner advised on more than two dozen mergers and acquisitions; Managing moneyCampbell co-founded a major realty stock money manager. In addition, he provides an insiders take on investment styles of 1980s activists including Carl Icahn, Michael Milken, Leland Speed, Sam Zell, and Warren Buffett and their nearly two dozen company purchases and takeovers. And, he presents valuable insights into a number of business and stock market issues. Offering personal recollections of the world of real-estate investment, Watch that Rat Hole gives insight into REITs, this little-understoodbut pivotalarea of business and finance.