Pink Tory

In Canadian and British politics a pink Tory is an extremely liberal member of the Conservative or Progressive Conservative party, even more liberal than a Red Tory. The term was often derisively applied to the 1971 to 1985 Ontario Progressive Conservative government of Bill Davis [Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Transcript of Debates (Hansard) May 14, 1992 [http://www.ontla.on.ca/house-proceedings/transcripts/files_html/1992-05-14_l023.htm] ] by critics on the right, particularly "Toronto Sun" columnist Claire Hoy. In 2002, Jim Flaherty described rival leadership contender Ernie Eves as a "pink" Tory. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2002/03/24/ont_politics020324.html Ontario Liberal leader takes aim at incoming premier ] ] More recently the term has been used to describe socially progressive Conservatives who are in favour of legalized same-sex marriage and are pro-choice [Hutchinson, Brian, "The overlooked Tory: The candidate you don't hear about in the Fry-Robinson showdown", "National Post", January 12, 2006] The term has also been used in Britain to describe the policies of David Cameron [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=F11&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2007/03/13/ublview13b.xml Are Cameron's Conservatives still Tories? - Telegraph ] ]

References