Why is 'Tory' in this headline

Why is 'Tory' in this headline?

Nickname debate: Members of new Conservative party weigh in

Adam Daifallah

National Post

March 27, 2004

When Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay announced in October that they had reached a deal to unite the right, peddlers of conventional wisdom suggested the end result would be an Alliance takeover of the old Tory party.

But if we judge by the media's choice of terminology to describe the new party, the upshot seems to be the complete opposite.

Last Saturday's National Post lead story was entitled "Tory rivals focus on Liberal foe." Monday's Post contained a special section entitled "The New Tories." "Harper's Tories pledge Ontario-friendly party" read the front-page headline in Sunday's Toronto Star. And last Saturday's Globe and Mail contained a front-page sub-headline "Tory front-runner aims criticism at Martin."

Who gave the media permission to use the name "Tory" just because it's a conveniently short word for headlines? After all, that term was used to describe members of the old Progressive Conservative party, one half of the new amalgam that is the Conservative Party of Canada. Former federal PCs would have never allowed the new party to be called Reform or Canadian Alliance. For their part, many activists on the Alliance side of the equation abhorred the term Tory because of its close association with the once- (and for some still) dreaded Brian Mulroney. Now, some of those same people are coming to embrace the Tory moniker, not with any particular enthusiasm but because they are hearing the term being used by others, especially the press.

Harper himself was reported this week to have said he is "not crazy" about being a Tory again but that he is reconciled to accept it for lack of a better alternative.

"It's definitely 'Tory,' " insists Peter Van Loan, a past president of the federal PC party and the new party's candidate in the Ontario riding of York Simcoe. "The historical strain comes all the way from back in Britain where they're originally called Tories and they're called the Conservative party, and that is what this is the continued strain or movement of."

John Williams, the Conservative MP for St. Albert, Alberta, and the chairman of the public accounts committee, doesn't have a problem with "Tory."

"I've always been a Tory at heart," Williams said at last weekend's leadership convention in Toronto. "For a while there, I thought that their progressive side got a little bit too progressive and therefore I became a Reform party member and came through that side of the divide. Now we're back together again."

James Moore, the youngish MP for British Columbia's Port Moodie-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, prefers the phrase "new Conservative party."

"I do think there's an opportunity here that the word 'new' connotes a lot of good things for Canadians. Canadians want a new government, therefore the new Conservative party. And of course Tony Blair had some success with new Labour," Moore said. "But I don't think we're stuck up on it. I don't think people are hung up on terms."

And MP John Reynolds, the no-nonsense former Canadian Alliance House leader: "Winston Churchill was a Conservative and called a Tory. I don't mind being in his class."

The word "Tory" did not start out being synonymous with Conservative. The word originated in Ireland and was ascribed to a type of nasty 17th-century bandit who claimed to be loyal to the Crown and used it as an excuse to wreak havoc. It seems to have been first used in a parliamentary sense in 1679, during a debate on a bill that would not have allowed the Duke of York (the future James II) to inherit the throne because he was Roman Catholic. The "Tories" were the ones who favoured continuing tradition in the royal succession. Since that time, it has passed through several incarnations until its present definition as a Conservative party member in the United Kingdom and Canada.

But for some, the connotations of the word have evolved further, for example, into support for keeping Canada in the British Commonwealth; a sort of high-brow, parliamentary elitism or aristocracy; and a Benjamin-Disraeli-style, "one-nation" conservatism.

At the grassroots level, party members would prefer the jettisoning of "Tory."

"A Tory supports traditional institutions like the monarchy. For people like myself, the appellation has no relevance," said Andrew Banks, a director of the party's new West Nova constituency association. "Like so many of the members of the Conservative party I have nothing to do with being a Tory."

Jessica-Lynne Durand, an 18-year-old from Calgary, thinks likewise:

"I am part of the new Conservatives. I feel it's important to add the "new" because the party is not my parent's Tories. Through breakouts, mergers, defections, housecleaning and reunions a new type of conservative has evolved," she said. "When younger voters hear 'Tory' they think of [Joe] Clark and Mulroney. Harper brings a new approach with more progressive views while still upholding traditional values and beliefs."

The Conservatives are going to great lengths to avoid any unnecessary tension in the party's infancy. (They've only been a party for a matter of weeks, after all.) Policy positions on contentious issues are intentionally ambiguous, and great strides are being taken by newly crowned leader Stephen Harper to include members of the party's Red Tory wing.

But would it not be odd if, after all the dire warnings about party divisions over policy issues like abortion, gay marriage and regional development, one of the points of friction ends up being the party's nickname?

An obvious lack of an alternative is the problem. "Reformatory" would be too long. "Cons" doesn't look or sound right. Heaven forbid that "Whig" be resuscitated. Whether party members like it or not, looks like "Tory" is here to stay.