Ted W. Culp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ted W. Culp is a Canadian linguist and political activist. He has long been active in the country's republican movement, and is a leading proponent of language reform in the country. Culp has also been a member of several political parties, and attempted to start his own Forward Canada Party in the 1990s.
Culp was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1960s. He attended the party's national student convention in 1963, and attained notoriety for opposing a confidence motion in party leader John Diefenbaker and calling for the abolition of the Monarchy in Canada.[1] In 1981, he organized The Committee for the Republic of Canada, calling for the country's "foreign head of state" to be replaced by a Canadian president (Globe and Mail, 28 February 1981).
He campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1971 election as a candidate of the New Democratic Party in York West, and finished third against Progressive Conservative John MacBeth. Culp later joined the provincial Liberal Party. In early 1985, he brought forward a motion to the York Mills Liberal riding association opposing the extension of provincial funding to Ontario's Catholic school system. The motion was defeated (Globe and Mail, 22 January 1985).
Culp was a member of the Simplified Spelling Society ov Canada during the 1980s, and is a proponent of reforming the English language. He is the inventor of what he calls the "Canadian language", with radical adjustments from the grammar and spelling of conventional English. "We must muve kwikli tu adopt the nu langwage, and not tu prolong the linggwistic agoni", he wrote in a piece defending the system. Culp is also the inventor of "Toronto French", or "Le Francais-Torontois", and published The Times ov Toronto to promote his ideas (Reuters News, 11 February 1990).
He formed the Alliance for the Republic of Canada in the 1990s, and protested a visit by Prince Charles to Canada in 1996 (Reuters News, 26 April 1996).
In the 1997 federal election, Culp contested Toronto Centre—Rosedale as a candidate of his own Forward Canada Party. He described the FCP as "nationalistic republican", and advocated reforms to the English and French languages as a means of improving national unity. Culp also called for the legalization of marijuana, and the creation of more provinces (Toronto Star, 30 May 1997). As his party was unregistered, he appeared on the ballot as a non-affiliated candidate. He received 145 votes (0.31%), finishing last in a field of nine candidates.
