Leader Jeremy Arney Founder Paul T. Hellyer Split from Liberal Party | President Jeff Sakula Founded 1997 | |
Headquarters 788 Mabel Lake Rd., Lumby, British Columbia | ||
The Canadian Action Party (CAP) (French: Parti action canadienne, PAC) is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposes liberal globalization and the free trade agreements that have been signed by the Canadian government.
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History
The Canadian Action Party (CAP) was founded by Paul T. Hellyer, a former Liberal minister of 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 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 will be deregistered effective Friday, March 31, 2017, for not having at least 250 members who are eligible voters.
Positions
A number of CAP members also belong to the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER) and have 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 argues for the abrogation of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and opposes current government trade initiatives and any legislation leading to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) and what it sees as integration with the United States and Mexico into a North American Union.