# Canadian Action Party

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.
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

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) never agreed 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; he 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.

## Positions

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.

## Federal leaders

    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

    Shown by default in chronological order of leadership
| Year | Name | Period | Time in office |
| 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

| 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) |