The
Canadian Action Party (CAP) (French:
Parti action canadienne [PAC]) is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
federalCanadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed, officially beginning on July 1, 1867, with the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec along with two other British colonies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which also became provinces.-Usage:Canada is a...
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
founded in 1997. It promotes
Canadian nationalismCanadian nationalism is a term which has been applied to ideologies of several different types which highlight and promote specifically Canadian interests over those of other countries, notably the United States...
,
monetary reformMonetary reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying money and financing the economy than the current system.Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:...
, and
electoral reformElectoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:*Voting systems, such as runoff voting, instant runoff voting, approval voting, citizen initiatives and referendums, recall elections, and proportional...
and opposes neoliberal globalization and
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
agreements.
The Canadian Action Party was founded by
Paul T. HellyerPaul Theodore Hellyer, PC is a Canadian politician and commentator who has had a long and varied career.- Early life :Hellyer was born and raised on a farm near Waterford, Ontario. Upon completion of high school he studied aeronautical engineering at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute of...
, a former
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
minister of defence in the cabinet of Lester Pearson. Hellyer ran unsuccessfully for the
leadership of the Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention of 1968 elected Pierre Elliott Trudeau as the new leader of the Liberal Party. He was the unexpected winner in what was one of the most important leadership conventions in party history...
in 1968, and for the leadership of the
Progressive Conservative PartyThe Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and a centrist stance on social issues....
in
1976The 1976 leadership convention of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was held in Ottawa on February 22 1976, to elect a leader to replace Robert Stanfield, who had resigned after losing the 1968, 1972, and 1974 elections. It unexpectedly elected a 36-year-old, little-known PC Member of...
.
It nominated candidates for the first time in the
1997 federal electionThe Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
.
After the 1997 election, it absorbed the
Canada PartyThe Canada Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated 56 candidates in the 1993 federal election and one candidate in a 1996 by-election. It was unable to win any seats. The party was populist and ran on a platform of banking and monetary reform...
, another minor party concerned about monetary reform which had been formed by former members of the
Social Credit Party of CanadaThe Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...
.
The
Canadian Action Party (CAP) (French:
Parti action canadienne [PAC]) is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
federalCanadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed, officially beginning on July 1, 1867, with the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec along with two other British colonies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which also became provinces.-Usage:Canada is a...
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
founded in 1997. It promotes
Canadian nationalismCanadian nationalism is a term which has been applied to ideologies of several different types which highlight and promote specifically Canadian interests over those of other countries, notably the United States...
,
monetary reformMonetary reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying money and financing the economy than the current system.Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:...
, and
electoral reformElectoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:*Voting systems, such as runoff voting, instant runoff voting, approval voting, citizen initiatives and referendums, recall elections, and proportional...
and opposes neoliberal globalization and
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
agreements.
Background
The Canadian Action Party was founded by
Paul T. HellyerPaul Theodore Hellyer, PC is a Canadian politician and commentator who has had a long and varied career.- Early life :Hellyer was born and raised on a farm near Waterford, Ontario. Upon completion of high school he studied aeronautical engineering at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute of...
, a former
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
minister of defence in the cabinet of Lester Pearson. Hellyer ran unsuccessfully for the
leadership of the Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention of 1968 elected Pierre Elliott Trudeau as the new leader of the Liberal Party. He was the unexpected winner in what was one of the most important leadership conventions in party history...
in 1968, and for the leadership of the
Progressive Conservative PartyThe Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and a centrist stance on social issues....
in
1976The 1976 leadership convention of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was held in Ottawa on February 22 1976, to elect a leader to replace Robert Stanfield, who had resigned after losing the 1968, 1972, and 1974 elections. It unexpectedly elected a 36-year-old, little-known PC Member of...
.
It nominated candidates for the first time in the
1997 federal electionThe Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
.
After the 1997 election, it absorbed the
Canada PartyThe Canada Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated 56 candidates in the 1993 federal election and one candidate in a 1996 by-election. It was unable to win any seats. The party was populist and ran on a platform of banking and monetary reform...
, another minor party concerned about monetary reform which had been formed by former members of the
Social Credit Party of CanadaThe Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...
. Former Canada Party leader
Claire FossClaire A. Foss is a retired businessperson from British Columbia, Canada, who ran for election to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1993, 1997, and 2004 elections. He was born in Tofield, Alberta....
served as vice president of CAP until November 2003.
Hellyer resigned as CAP leader in 2003 after the
New Democratic PartyThe New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a social democratic political party in Canada. In the Canadian House of Commons, it holds a centre-left position in the Canadian political spectrum. The leader of the federal NDP is Jack Layton...
failed to agree to a merger proposal, under which the NDP would change its name. In 2004,
Connie FogalConstance Fogal is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. A lawyer and former teacher, Fogal lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where her late husband Harry Rankin was a long time progressive city councillor. She is an anti-globalization activist and was an opponent of the...
, an activist lawyer, was acclaimed party leader after
David OrchardDavid Orchard is a Canadian political figure, member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and nominated Liberal Party candidate for the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in the 40th Canadian federal election.Previously, Orchard was a member of the now defunct Progressive...
failed to respond to an invitation to take over the leadership. Fogal stepped down in 2008 and was succeeded by Andrew J. Moulden following the
2008 federal electionThe 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
.
According to the
Christian Heritage Party of CanadaThe Christian Heritage Party of Canada is a federal political party that advocates that Canada be governed according to biblical teaching, which it describes as "the inspired, inerrant written Word of God"....
, Moulden resigned as CAP leader on August 4, 2009 and joined the Christian Heritage Party.
As of October 3, 2009, Melissa Brade has been acting as Interim Leader of the Canadian Action Party.
Positions
A number of CAP members also belong to the
Committee on Monetary and Economic ReformThe Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform is an international publishing and education centre based in Toronto, Canada.Its mandate is to study the destabilization that its members believe current economic and monetary policies have caused, and are causing, for the citizens of Canada and other...
(COMER) and have been influential in developing CAP's monetary policy, particularly its position that the
Bank of CanadaThe Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank. It was created by the Bank of Canada Act of 1934, to "promote the economic and financial well-being of Canada." It is the sole issuer of banknotes in Canada, and the central bank for the Canadian dollar....
, rather than chartered banks, should provide loans to the government, if required, to fund public spending.
CAP also argues for the abrogation of
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), and opposes current government initiatives leading to the
Free Trade Area of the AmericasThe Free Trade Area of the Americas was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 nations met in Miami, Florida, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal...
(FTAA), and what it sees as integration with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
into a
North American UnionThe North American Union is a theoretical regional union of Canada, Mexico, and the United States possibly similar in structure to the European Union, sometimes including a common currency called the Amero or the North American Dollar...
.
CAP does not support the
9/11 CommissionThe National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002 "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
's report on the September 11 attacks in 2001. It strongly encourages all citizens to investigate all available evidence of 9/11 and create their own opinion. At its 2006 convention, CAP passed a motion calling for a Royal Commission to investigate the September 11 attacks and Canada's participation in Afghanistan. CAP argues that the truth of what really happened on September 11, 2001 has yet to be uncovered; and that in the meantime, Canadians have been subject to anti-terrorism laws and security agreements, such as Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), that have compromised Canadian sovereignty and civil rights. It also calls for a moratorium on anti-terrorist legislation to be reexamined only after receiving the results of that Royal Commission's investigation.
Stance on the War on Terrorism
Critics within CAP fear that the
War on TerrorismThe War on Terrorism is the common term for the military, political, legal and ideological conflict against what the effort's leaders describe as Islamic terrorism and Islamic militants, and was specifically used in reference to operations by the...
has eroded and will continue to erode civil liberties in addition to creating wars of aggression. CAP's position stands in contrast with those of the major political parties in Canada (the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois) which appear to follow the traditional historical account of the September 11 attacks, which was that the United States government had failed to recognize the warning signs of imminent danger posed by nineteen Islamic fundamentalist militants (due to bureaucratic incompetence and disorganization) which resulted in the inability to act quickly enough to prevent the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Party leaders
- Paul Hellyer
Paul Theodore Hellyer, PC is a Canadian politician and commentator who has had a long and varied career.- Early life :Hellyer was born and raised on a farm near Waterford, Ontario. Upon completion of high school he studied aeronautical engineering at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute of...
, 1997 - 2004
- Connie Fogal
Constance Fogal is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. A lawyer and former teacher, Fogal lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where her late husband Harry Rankin was a long time progressive city councillor. She is an anti-globalization activist and was an opponent of the...
, 2004 - November 2008
- Andrew J. Moulden, November 2008 - August 2009
Party presidents
- Claire Foss
Claire A. Foss is a retired businessperson from British Columbia, Canada, who ran for election to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1993, 1997, and 2004 elections. He was born in Tofield, Alberta....
, ? - 2003
- Connie Fogal
Constance Fogal is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. A lawyer and former teacher, Fogal lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where her late husband Harry Rankin was a long time progressive city councillor. She is an anti-globalization activist and was an opponent of the...
, 2003 - 2004
- Catherine Whelan Costen, November 2005 - January 2007
- Bev Collins, February 2007 - 2008
- Marc Bombois, 2008 - August 2008
- Paul Kemp (politician), August 2008 - present
Election results
| Election |
Leader |
# of candidates |
# of votes |
% of popular vote |
% of popular vote
in ridings contested |
1997 electionThe Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
|
Paul Hellyer Paul Theodore Hellyer, PC is a Canadian politician and commentator who has had a long and varied career.- Early life :Hellyer was born and raised on a farm near Waterford, Ontario. Upon completion of high school he studied aeronautical engineering at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute of...
|
58 |
17,502 |
0.13% |
0.67% |
2000 electionThe 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....
|
Paul Hellyer |
70 |
27,101 |
0.21% |
0.85% |
2004 electionThe Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
|
Connie Fogal Constance Fogal is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. A lawyer and former teacher, Fogal lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where her late husband Harry Rankin was a long time progressive city councillor. She is an anti-globalization activist and was an opponent of the...
|
45 |
8,930 |
0.06% |
0.41% |
2006 electionThe 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
|
Connie Fogal |
36 |
6,102 |
0.04% |
0.35% |
2008 electionThe 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
|
Connie Fogal |
20 |
3,495 |
0.03% |
0.38% |
| Date |
By-Election |
Candidate |
# of votes |
% of popular vote |
Place |
Winner |
|
| Mar 30, 1998 |
Port Moody-Coquitlam Port Moody-Coquitlam is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada established by the Electoral Districts Act, 2008. It will come into effect upon the next dissolution of the BC Legislature, currently scheduled for April 2009, and will first be contested in the ensuing...
|
Will Arlow |
156 |
0.54% |
6/8 |
Lou Sekora Louis "Lou" Sekora is a Canadian politician.Born in Hafford, Saskatchewan, but raised in Greece to a Greek family, Sekora served as mayor of Coquitlam, British Columbia, from 1983 to 1997. He previously served as a member of the city council from 1972 to 1988...
(Liberal) |
| Nov 15, 1999 |
York WestYork West is a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1904 and since 1917, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999....
|
Stephen Burega |
242 |
1.78% |
5/6 |
Judy Sgro Judy Sgro, PC, MP is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of York West in the Canadian House of Commons....
(Liberal) |
| Sep 11, 2000 |
Okanagan-Coquihalla |
Jack William Peach |
1,159 |
4.19% |
4/8 |
Stockwell DayStockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP , is a Canadian politician and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day is currently MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the Minister of...
(Alliance) |
| Nov 27, 2006 |
London North CentreLondon North Centre is an electoral district in the province of Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1951....
|
Will Arlow |
29 |
0.13% |
7/7 |
Glen Pearson Glen Douglas Pearson is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for London North Centre, and is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada....
(Liberal) |
| Nov 27, 2006 |
Repentigny Repentigny is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.It consists solely and entirely of the Regional County Municipality of L'Assomption.-Demographics:...
|
Mahmood Raza Baig |
91 |
0.29% |
6/7 |
Raymond Gravel Fr. Raymond Gravel is a priest and politician from the Canadian province of Quebec, who is currently the Member of Parliament for the riding of Repentigny, as a member of the Bloc Québécois...
(Bloc) |
| Sep 17, 2007 |
Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot |
Michel St-Onge |
61 |
0.19% |
7/7 |
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac is a Canadian politician. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons on September 17, 2007, as the Bloc Québécois candidate in the Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot by-election, defeating the Conservative candidate Bernard Barré.Born in Vietnam, Thi Lac was adopted at age two by a...
(Bloc) |
| Sep 17, 2007 |
Outremont Outremont can mean the following:*Outremont, Quebec - a borough and former town in Montreal*Outremont - a Canadian federal electoral district*Outremont - a Quebec provincial electoral district...
|
Alexandre Amirizian |
45 |
0.19% |
9/12 |
Thomas Mulcair Thomas J. Mulcair is the Member of Parliament for Outremont, Quebec, Canada. He was the Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Chomedey in Laval from 1994 to 2007. He served as the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks from 2003 until 2006...
(New Democrat) |
| Mar 17, 2008 |
Toronto CentreToronto Centre is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto , Toronto Centre , Rosedale and Toronto Centre—Rosedale .Toronto Centre covers the heart of downtown...
|
Doug Plumb |
97 |
0.40% |
6/6 |
Bob RaeRobert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and sits in the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal opposition's foreign affairs critic....
(Liberal) |
| Mar 17, 2008 |
Vancouver Quadra Vancouver Quadra is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949....
|
Psamuel Frank |
40 |
0.14% |
6/6 |
Joyce Murray Joyce Murray is a Canadian politician. She currently represents the electoral district of Vancouver Quadra as a Liberal Member of the Canadian House of Commons, and was previously a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2005.-Career in provincial...
(Liberal) |
See also
External links