Red Tory
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Red Tory is a Canadian term for a type of conservatism. Red Tories are seen as the traditional left-wing of their contemporary Conservative party, and are usually cast as moderates within the Canadian political spectrum. The term originally refered to the branch of the original Conservative Party (Later the Progressive Conservative Party) that was committed to Canadian nationalism and the welfare state, but has recently undergone a definition shift.
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Beliefs
Red Toryism derives largely from a British tory tradition that maintained the unequal division of wealth and political privilege among social classes can be justified, if members of the privileged class contribute to the common good (noblesse oblige). Red Tories supported traditional institutions like religion and the monarchy, keeping the social order, and good government with a belief in individual rights. Later, this would manifest itself as support for the welfare state.
Origins
In late Victorian times, these were the main strains of conservative thought in the British Empire, and have much in common with Benjamin Disraeli's One Nation Conservatism. These policies were advanced by many in the tory faction of Sir John A. Macdonald's coalition in the Province of Canada and after Confederation.
The explicit notion of a "Red" Toryism was developed by Gad Horowitz in the 1960s, who argued that there was a significant Tory ideology in Canada. This vision contrasted Canada with the United States, which was seen as lacking this collectivist tradition, as it was expunged from the American political culture after the American Revolution and the exodus of the United Empire Loyalists. Horowitz argued that Canada's stronger socialist movement grew from Toryism, and that this is an explaination of why socialism has never had much success in the United States. This also meant that Canadian conceptions of liberty were more derivative of the English tradition, than of American practices and theories.
Horowitz identified George Grant and Eugene Forsey as exemplars of this strain of thought, which saw a central role for Christianity in public affairs and were profoundly critical of capitalism and the dominant business élites. Forsey would became a CCF member, while Grant remained a Conservative, until the more capitalist and continentalist shift in policy, something Forsey saw happening decades earlier. When the Conservative government of John Diefenbaker fell in 1963, largely due to the BOMARC controversy, Grant went into deep thinking about the nature of traditional Canadian nationhood and independence, and wrote Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism, a book that would become a symbol of Red Toryism.
The origin of the adjective "red" is unknown. The reference may be to progressive aspects of Red Tory principles, since parties of the left have traditionally used the colour red.
Peak of predominance
The Red Tories historically served as the most powerful faction within the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Many of the party's leaders have been labeled Red Tories, including Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Robert Borden, John Diefenbaker, Robert Stanfield, and Joe Clark. Many others have been influential as cabinet ministers and thinkers, such as E. Davie Fulton, Dalton Camp, and John Farthing.
The main bastions of Red Toryism were Ontario, the Maritime provinces, and urban Manitoba, areas where the Red Tories dominated provincial politics. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party who have held power in that province for most of the time since Confederation, were often labelled as Red Tories, espeically under the leadership of William Davis from 1971 to 1985. Under Davis, the Tories often ran to the left of the Ontario Liberal Party. Some political commentators have suggested that the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, John Tory, is in the mould of the Bill Davis Red Tory tradition.
Throughout the Atlantic Provinces, traditional Red Tories are the dominant force in the provincial Progressive Conservative parties because of their support of the welfare state. This tends to explain why Canadian provinces are often ruled at the provincial level by a party that may be Conservative yet at the same time elect Liberal Members of Parliament to the Canadian House of Commons. In Western Canada, the Red Tory strain was significant only in Manitoba, and is particularly stronger in Winnipeg than in rural areas. The career of Duff Roblin, Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967, is a prominant example. The Ministries of Premier Peter Lougheed in Alberta between 1971 and 1985 can be seen as somewhat of an anomaly - in a modern Alberta context - as his career has been viewed as another example of Red Toryism in practice.
Decline
The dominance of Red Toryism can be seen as a part of the international post-war consensus that saw the welfare state embraced by the major parties of most of the western world. In the late 1970s and 80s the Progressive Conservative Party suffered a string of electoral defeats under Red Tory leaders Robert Stanfield and Joe Clark. Pressure began to grow within the party for a new approach. Joe Clark's leadership was successfully challenged, and in the 1983 PC Leadership convention, members endorsed Brian Mulroney. Mulroney represented a more business like approach, comparable to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Red Toryism began to decline in relevance as a political force in Canada, as it fell out-of-sync with the current political climate.
Red Toryism never held much sway in Western Canada where smaller-government and support for continentalist policies are greater. The growing population and power of Alberta and British Columbia has also played an important role in this transformation. Eventually the explicitly anti-Red Tory Reform Party developed in the west. At the provincial level, Albertan Red Tory supporters of Peter Lougheed were marginalized following Ralph Klein's assumption of power.
As right-wing support for the Federal Progressive Conservatives bled away to the Reform Party and then the Canadian Alliance, Red Tories increasingly gained control of the federal party. After the victory of the "Blue Tory" Peter MacKay at the 2003 PC Convetion, and in violation of a contract signed with traditional Red Tory David Orchard, MacKay merged the Tories with Stephen Harper's Alliance.
Red Tories post-merger of federal parties
One of the most important issues facing the newly created Conservative Party is what Red Tories would do. The union has resulted in a number of Red Tories leaving the new party, either to retire or to defect to the Liberals. The latter group includes current and former Members of Parliament (MPs) André Bachand, John Herron, and Rick Borotsik. Joe Clark served the balance of his parliamentary term as a Progressive Conservative, outside of the new Conservative party caucus, before retiring from politics.
Other high-profile Red Tories such as Sinclair Stevens and Flora MacDonald applied to re-register the old Progressive Conservative Party name; however, this was refused by Elections Canada. On March 26, 2004, the Progressive Canadian Party was registered with Elections Canada. It aims to be perceived as a revival of the "PC Party", but has only acheieved very minor results.
In the end, some Red Tories have decided to join the new Conservative Party. A group of them formed the Red Tory Council - a group constructed to give voice to the Red Tories, monitor the party and its positions, and to prevent too great a swing to the right. This group, however, was usurped in 2005 and replaced with a group called the Conservative Council, and it has been widely speculated by some Red Tories that such a move was undertaken to quell such dissent and inquiry in the new party's ranks.
Definition drift
With the conservative movement's drift to the economic and political right, the term Red Tory is often used today in the media not to refer to those in the traditional Red Tory tradition of George Grant, Dalton Camp or Robert Stanfield; but simply to moderates in the conservative movement, particularly those who reject or do not sufficiently embrace social conservatism, such as James Moore, Gerald Keddy, and Jim Prentice. This is not wholly accurate, however, as many Red Tories have either removed themselves from the Conservative Party, or have thrown their individual support to other parties.
For example, in the 2004 Conservative Party leadership election, Tony Clement and Belinda Stronach were sometimes referred to as a Red Tories even though they advocated privitization, tax cuts, curtailment of social and economic development spending and free trade with the United States. Clement and Stronach's stances are policies that most traditional Red Tories would reject.
References
- Christian, William Edward and C. Campbell (editors), Political Parties and Ideologies in Canada (Note: several editions of this textbook have appeared since 1974, reflecting the changes in Canada's politics.
- Christian, William Edward and C. Campbell (editors) Parties, Leaders and Ideologies in Canada
- Farthing, J. Freedom Wears a Crown
- Grant, George Parkin. Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (1965)
- Horowitz, Gad. "Conservatism, Liberalism and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation." Canadian Journal of Political Science. (1966).
- Campbell, Colin. CTtheory.net. Gad Horowitz Interviewed by Colin Campbell. [audio file], available online at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=397.
External links
- George Parkin Grant: Complex Canadian Critic of Technology and America
- Social Philosophies and Toryism in Canada
- The Red Tory's Creed (opinion)
- Anatomy of a Red Tory, a critical opinion by Andrew Coyne, May 15, 2000