The Canadian Action Party (CAP) (French: Parti action canadienne, PAC) was a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997 and deregistered on 31 March 2017.[1]

Canadian Action Party
Parti Action Canadienne
LeaderJeremy Arney
PresidentJeff Sakula
FounderPaul T. Hellyer
Founded1997
Dissolved31 March 2017
Headquarters788 Mabel Lake Road, Lumby, British Columbia, Canada
IdeologyCanadian nationalism
Civic nationalism
Left-wing nationalism
Anti-Americanism
Anti-globalization
Monetary reform
Political positionLeft-wing
Colours  Red
House of Commons
0 / 338
Senate
0 / 105
Website
ActionParty.ca

The party stood for Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposed liberal globalization and free trade agreements that had been signed by the Canadian government.

History

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The Canadian Action Party (CAP) was founded by Paul Hellyer, a former Liberal minister of national defence in the cabinet of Lester B. Pearson. Hellyer ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1968, and for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976.

CAP nominated candidates for the first time in the 1997 federal election.

After the 1997 election, it absorbed the Canada Party, another minor party concerned about monetary reform which had been formed by former members of the Social Credit Party of Canada. Former Canada Party leader Claire Foss served as vice president of CAP until November 2003.

Hellyer resigned as CAP leader in 2003 after the New Democratic Party (NDP) didn't agree to a merger proposal, under which the NDP would change its name. In 2004, Connie Fogal, an activist lawyer, was acclaimed party leader after David Orchard 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 election.

The acting chief electoral officer of Canada advised the party leader that the party would be deregistered effective Friday, March 31, 2017, for not having at least 250 members who are eligible voters.[2]

Positions

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A number of CAP members also belonged to the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform and had been influential in developing CAP's monetary policy, particularly its position that the Bank of Canada, rather than chartered banks, should provide loans to the government, if required, to fund public spending.

CAP also argued for the abrogation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and opposed current government trade initiatives and any legislation leading to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Trans-Pacific Partnership and what it saw as integration with the United States and Mexico into a North American Union.[3][verification needed]

Federal leaders

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Shown by default in chronological order of leadership
Year Name Period Time in office
1997 Paul Hellyer 1997 – 2004 7 years
2004 Connie Fogal 2004 – November 2008 4 years
2008 Andrew J. Moulden November 2008 – August 2009 9 months
2009 Dave Wilkinson August 2009 – October 2009 2 months
2009 Melissa Brade October 2009 – September 2010 11 months
2010 Christopher Porter September 2010 – July 2012 1 year
2012 Jason Chase July 2012 – April 2014 1 year
2014 Jeremy Arney April 2014 – March 2017 2 years and 11 months

Presidents

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Shown by default in chronological order of leadership
Year Name Period Time in office Deputy leader/s
2003 Claire Foss ??? – 2003 ???
2003 Connie Fogal 2003 – 2004 1 year
2005 Catherine Whelan Costen November 2005 – January 2007 1 year
2007 Bev Collins February 2007 – 2008 1 year
2008 Marc Bombois 2008 – August 2008 ??
2008 Paul Kemp August 2008 – 2009 1 year
2009 Calvin Keats 2009 – February 2010 1 year
2010 Noelene Smith July 2010 – 2011 1 year
2012 Maggie Braun 2012 – November 2013 1 year
2013 Jeremy Arney December 2013 – April 2014 4 months
2014 Logan Anderson May 2014 – May 2015 1 year
2015 Jeff Sakula May 2015 – March 2017 1 year and 10 months

Electoral results

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Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
1997 Paul T. Hellyer 17,502 0.13%
0 / 301
    9/10 No seats
2000 Paul T. Hellyer 27,103 0.21%
0 / 301
    8/11 No seats
2004 Connie Fogal 8,807 0.06%
0 / 308
    9/12 No seats
2006 Connie Fogal 6,102 0.04%
0 / 308
    10/15 No seats
2008 Connie Fogal 3,455 0.02%
0 / 308
    11/19 No seats
2011 Christopher Porter 2,030 0.01%
0 / 308
    13/18 No seats
2015 Jeremy Arney 401 0.00%
0 / 338
    17/23 No seats
Date By-Election Candidate # of votes % of popular vote Place Winner
Mar 30, 1998 Port Moody-Coquitlam Will Arlow 156 0.54% 6/8 Lou Sekora (Liberal)
Nov 15, 1999 York West Stephen Burega 242 1.78% 5/6 Judy Sgro (Liberal)
Sep 11, 2000 Okanagan-Coquihalla Jack William Peach 1,159 4.19% 4/8 Stockwell Day (Alliance)
Nov 27, 2006 London North Centre Will Arlow 29 0.13% 7/7 Glen Pearson (Liberal)
Nov 27, 2006 Repentigny Mahmood Raza Baig 91 0.29% 6/7 Raymond Gravel (Bloc)
Sep 17, 2007 Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot Michel St-Onge 61 0.19% 7/7 Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac (Bloc)
Sep 17, 2007 Outremont Alexandre Amirizian 45 0.19% 10/12 Thomas Mulcair (New Democrat)
Mar 17, 2008 Toronto Centre Doug Plumb 97 0.40% 6/6 Bob Rae (Liberal)
Mar 17, 2008 Vancouver Quadra Psamuel Frank 40 0.14% 6/6 Joyce Murray (Liberal)

See also

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Party logo in use until 2006

References

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  1. ^ Canada, Elections. "Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration". Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  2. ^ "Deregistration of the Canadian Action Party". Marketwired. 27 February 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  3. ^ "canadianactionparty.org". www.canadianactionparty.org. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
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