The Canadian Action Party (CAP) is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary reform and electoral reform, and opposes globalization and free trade agreements.
The Canadian Action Party was founded by Paul Hellyer, a former Liberal minister of defence in the cabinet of Lester Pearson. Hellyer ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1968, and for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976.
After the 1997 election, it absorbed the Canada Party, another minor party concerned about monetary reform that was formed by former members of the Social Credit Party of Canada. Former Canada Party leader Claire Foss served as the president of CAP until November 2005.
Hellyer resigned as CAP leader in 2003 after the New Democratic Party failed to agree to a merger proposal, under which the NDP would change its name. In 2004, Connie Fogal was acclaimed party leader after David Orchard failed to respond to an invitation to take over the leadership.
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. CAP argues also that the ability of chartered banks to create money should be transferred to the Bank of Canada in order to fund public spending.
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