Norman (Norm) Kempton Atkins (b. June 27 1934) is a Canadian Senator and political figure. Atkins was a leading figure in advertising and a senior Progressive Conservative strategist. He was especially associated with the Big Blue Machine that helped elect the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party under Bill Davis. In the 1980s he was a strategist for the federal Tories led by Brian Mulroney who appointed him to the Senate in 1986. He was educated at Appleby College, Oakville, then studied a Bachelor of Arts at Acadia University.
Atkins opposed the merger of the Progressive Conservatives with the Canadian Alliance and 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 William Doody. Atkins is scheduled to retire from the Senate in 2009.
