IN THE COMMENTS on another post, someone wondered whether I was not a Red Tory, like the former international trade critic. Um, no. Here's my definition of a Red Tory, from my May 15, 2000 column:

But then, Toryism has never been about intellectual consistency, most especially among that strange mutation, now the dominant strain in the party, known as Red Tories. The Red Tory, as the name implies, does not go in much for logical coherence or philosophical frameworks; indeed he prides himself on it. He is guided, rather, by sentiment, and nostalgia, and an unshakeable conviction that everything can be resolved through "dialogue." Which is not to say that the Red Tory does not believe in anything. He does. He believes in the Queen, and good diction, and the proper teaching of Canadian history in the schools. His heroes are George Grant, Disraeli, and Allan Bloom. He goes to church, militantly. He has a quite mystic regard for notions like "community," though he does not know what he means by it, or how it conflicts with the "individualism" he despises. He is also against "socialism," though again he can't say why. Above all, he believes in civility -- unlike his political opponents, whom he curses in the most strident terms. In general, the rule is: the less the ideological differences, the greater the hostility. So although the Red Tory hates the Canadian Alliance, he loathes the Liberals more, and fellow Tories most of all -- until, in the enduring enmity between those two indistinguishably Red Tories, Mr. Clark and Hugh Segal, the rancour reaches molten form.

MORE on the weird Clark-Segal feud here. MORE on the weird Segal-Neocons feud here. Not to pick on Hugh, who's a fine fellow, and whose views, I sense, have evolved over the years. Which speaks well of him (some might suggest I could learn from his example). A continuation of the discussion begun in this piece is here. My review of Bob Rae's book The Three Questions might also be useful in this regard. Also this quick review of the relationship between social and economic policy ("Six principles of a social market economy"). THE APOTHEOSIS of Red Toryism -- no, not Joe Clark, another one -- is discussed here.