We have Grits and Tories but

do the NDP have a nickname?

... when it was still extant ... the answer was "knee-dipper". It doesn't seem to have gained wide currency.

Pinko commie traitors?

And anyhow -- we *don't* have Tories. Not any more!

I mean, there are still Tories, but no Tory party.

I just ran across Orchard's piece from 2000 the other day:
http://www.davidorchard.com/online/articles-2000/what-makes.html
and while obviously I think he overstates his case (the glories of Canadian conservatism), he's right about what's now the Conservative Party.

It occurred to me some time ago that as the Church of England has long been called the Conservative Party at prayer, the United Church of Canada (my long ago ex-church) looks a lot like the NDP at prayer. Then I googled ("ndp at prayer" -- 22 results), and discovered that (like my "brother, can you paradigm?", and my economist-lightbulb joke) it wasn't an original thought. ;)

The current Conservative party is an amalgam of old PCs (Tories) and Reform/Alliance.

I'm not actually a foreigner, and I really have been doing Cdn electoral politics for nigh on to 40 years, and I do have a degree-equivalent in political science (that year I did after the degree in philosophy and French) ...

"The current Conservative party is an amalgam of old PCs (Tories) and Reform/Alliance."

Indeed. As you say, almost: the current Conservative Party is an amalgam of the old PC Party (Tories) and the Reform Party/Alliance. The parties, not the people; it was the parties that merged.

So, as I said, there are still Tories (people who were members / supporters / fellow travellers of the old Progressive Conservative Party), but no Tory party, that being the traditional nickname for what was most recently called, in Canada, the Progressive Conservative Party, having been imported from an earlier era in the UK. (The UK, of course, no longer has a Whig party.)

and a majority of the folks there are sympathetic to the NDP

Doesn't really resound, IMHO. Hmm...

Newdems? Feh.

Pinkoes? Old hat.

Newdies? Meh, no cigar by a long shot.

Pee-ers? Hmm, not too bad... but not printable.

Commies? The real Communists would object.

Oh well. Anyone know why the NDP colour is orange?

Why orange? The most godawful colour in the spectrum.

Provincially, at least, in Ontario, I recall when the green in the orange & green combo got more stress. We should really have laid claim to that before the cryptoconservative Green Party came along. ;)

Doesn't seem to have to do with the Socialist International, which goes by the rose.



http://www.socialistinternational.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_International

The Alberta NDP "has moved to an orange and green colour combination":

http://www.albertandp.ca/News.cfm?ID=13

The Saskatchewan Aboriginal New Democrats say: "The colour orange represents how we all need a sense of balance, choice, success and responsibility throughout our lives."
http://www.saskndp.com/ands/
Damned if I know why.

Colour psychoanalysis:
http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2000/1116/city.htm

Orange: conspicuously different

What the hell rhymes with orange?

· New Democratic Party – Orange makes an individual stand out from the crowd. That is why it is worn by road crew workers and hunters who would be struck down without the special attention. In an era when everybody is trying to distance themselves from socialism, the N.D.P. will do anything to get noticed.

Lest that seem a tad biased, the rest of it (red & white Liberals, etc.) is kinda cute too.

... Okay, I got sidetracked off on a google search and ended up reading about the BC NDP and an ousted Wiccan candidate some years ago ... so my short answer is: who knows? it's hideous but it's probably too late to do much about it!

The NDP is the successor of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation.

Well, I have been learning something about Canadian political history hanging out here this week.

I don't know why. "Fonebone" is a name often used by Dave Berg in Mad Magazine, though; but it has no political implication I know of in those pages.

"Fonebone" was a name assigned to a lot of characters by the late great Don Martin. He crapped bigger'n the lame Dave Berg.

Although why the hell someone would assign that name to NDPers is as big a mystery to me as that orange colour. :wtf:

I knew it was Don Martin, but misspoke. I agree with what you say as well.

And "fonebones"? An eternal mystery. But I'll use it; what the hell.

dipper is used, often...I've seen it used in places other than babble too by non-supporters as well. The term comes from NDP'er...i think...if you say that outloud it sounds like dipper. It's more of a common thing on Canadian based poli websites. Oh and the new Conservatives are still often refered to as Tories, in the mainstream media too.

That's what a conservative friend called them way back in the early 1980's. Suffice to say, I did not agree at all.

Conservative Reform Alliance Party... which lasted for a day or so, then they noticed the acronym. Granted this was back in Stockwell Day's time. Kind of a shame they noticed it; otherwise we could call them the Crappers.

:rofl:

Despite his anti-socialist bluster, he's been attacked for being a commie pinko by numerous neocons (before that term was ever used). He's no fan of the Reform branch of the conservative movement.

CRAPPERS and Stockwell Day...they sure do go together!