CAP is possibly the least-talked about political Party in Canada. We do not have a single elected MP, have hardly any Candidates, and seem to spend all our time in collective navelgazing over ODDS.
I think it is time to get over ourselves and look outwards. To get past the Alex Jones' style approach to the news of the day (as important as that may be in our lives) and somehow assemble in formation for when the time arrives to confront the voting public in an election. We need Battle-Ready soldiers.

We have to get our eyes off the individual trees and embrace the forest for what it is. It is easy to become sidetracked and become a one-issue party or simply a lobby group for the Truth movement or some other movement. A Political Party must rise above and maintain itself apart from mere lobbyist efforts, otherwise it is branded as a bunch of screwball nutjob squeaky wheels best ignored.

Where are the Town Hall meetings? Where is the old-fashioned stumping and campaigning? It does not exist. Where are the CAP Candidates? Where is the CAP voice in Ottawa? Do we even have a presence in Ottawa on Parliament Hill? Where is the CAP Leader when CBC or other News providers(corporate or alternative) are doing interviews? Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff are all over the place sounding off... Where is CAP?

Electoral reform is important, but it is not the most important thing. In the real world of politics, getting elected is the most important thing, and to get elected means building a strong Party, a large Party, a growing Party, that appeals to the majority of Canadians while not favouring any one group above another. If CAP hopes to effect any real change in Canada it will take more than websites with cutesy videos. It takes elected MP's in the House of Commons actually debating and voting. That is what will bring change. That is what will get CAP's voice heard.

video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=7427022351584640827#

Could not have said it better. I have followed this political party for some time, since 2006, and they seem to have no direction. Candidates seem to be left to their own accord and given a slap on the back saying, “Go for it”. The leadership sits back and does very little. A previous leader, Connie Fogal, did try and get the word out but she had limited access to just the Vancouver area.

During the 2006, election a young man in Hamilton did make a splash and did almost as well as the leader of the party in the amount of votes received. It shows that with a little exposure this party can do great things. The time is right to let the political cat out of the bag and show the rest of Canada what we know. I agree that this political party needs representation in Ottawa. All the other parties have a hand in the goings on up there, why aren't we? For a grassroots party we are stuck in the mud.

We have the great dirty secret that can change how Canadians think about politics but we choose to sit back and let the world pass us by. I am sick and tired of fighting a battle alone and not having anyone back me up. The polices need to be constantly updated and further clarification is needed on some points to give candidates and supporters the fire power to bring down the opposition.

Come on Canadian Action Party! Stop waiting for your chance and make it happen!

Well said - but I think there are things you have to understand, which most people do not know. CAP has been under serious attack for years - and it does sound like a conspiracy thing - but facts are facts. When Connie Fogul was Leader she did, in fact stop at least one well respected , active, articulate candidate from running under the CAP banner.She refused to post on the CAP website that had pushed CAP. She upset many members that knew her. Sounds strange, but I was there. Then we had a new Leader - Moulden - once again he tried to sink the party from inside. Records were lost, no accountability for money etc etc. Sounds weird to me, but I have come to my personal conclusion, that is that CAP is dangerous to the status quo, and had to be eliminated.

So CAP is back to re starting - picking up the bits and moving on. We will get there - it is getting better all the time - new policies, pamphlets etc. It is a big job. Help us do it

knowalittle wrote:


Wow good post.

The five pillarss are very good. I can see them fitting my idea of what I want the future of Canada to be.

If CAP can get other Canadians to buy into their view there is no limit.

Of course I'm still trying to figure out what kind of Canada most CAP members see in the future.

Knowalittle, I have offered to help out in whatever way I can. Organising Town Hall meetings if a CAP spokesperson would come and speak, arranging local meet-ups over coffee with interested persons, submitting official news or press releases to local papers for publication, anything else that might drum up interest. So far no Party Spokesperson has contacted me with their tour schedule...I guess the CAP campaign coach will not be stopping in a town near me anytime soon. So far no replies to my Meet Up post here in the Forums. So far no official Press Releases have been sent to me for submission to a local paper.
I do not have television, so cannot confirm whether or not CAP is running regular ad spots, and I'm not a regular radio listener, so ditto.
Leaders have to be "in your face" when speaking out on issues. The CAP logo, or "brand", must be drilled via repetition into the consciousness of the people. It requires chronic exposure.
The Party Leader ought to be hounding talk radio hosts all over the country for interviews on their show via telephone, this is the cheapest way to reach a large group of people and speak to the issues of the day. A team of volunteers should be hammering away at the phones making these contacts and setting up speaking venues/interviews. The CAP Campaign Bus could be a GMC Safari van (or some other Canadian-Made model of van), but it should be rolling, vinyl wrapped in the CAP logo, from Vancouver to Halifax and everywhere in between this summer.
CAP Policies should be more firmly chiselled rather than dry-erase-markered so speakers can have some sort of touchstone to go to when under fire by questioners. They should be printed and bound for distribution. Stop passing silly "interim" policies which appear bizarre or which cater only to small special interest groups, and shave them down to the core of monetary reform, national sovereignty...the issues which gave birth to CAP by Mr. Hellyer in the first place, for these all still affect us. (for that matter, why is Mr. Hellyer no longer involved in at least an advisory capacity?)

What gives?

Knowalittle will of course have to answer that but I suspect you are ahead of the game. When I helped out with a CAP candidate there was little or no money for much of the stuff you are asking. Even a vehicle was a significant expense. I suspect it will be up to local members to do much of what you are asking but I do think polices should come first, or at least an idea of what they would be on various issues.

But it takes time to firm up polices as these need to come from the members and after the recent, and necessary shuffles (all new parties have them) that requires lots of discussions. Which you as a CAP member are clearly supplying.

CAP does have the five pillars, Monetary Control, Sovereignty, Civil and Human Rights, Parliamentary Reform, and Environment. These I think are a great start (or restart depending on your view of the party).

I tend to agree with you on firming them up so would like to share some of my ideas (non-CAP member) and find out what yours (CAP member) would be on the same issues.

Monetary Control. I think this is CAPs strongest pillar. Recent history has shown the need for this control to be in our hands. Recent history also shows how important it is to have a globally accepted Monetary Policy. To that end I think it is good for CAP to say what they are saying but to also come up with practical steps to slowly (quick changes scare world markets) maybe even only partly accomplish some of these goals.

These steps could be something as simple as tying the maximum interest rate a Canadian individual can be charged to the rate at which the Bank of Canada charges the bank that lends out the money.

Easy for people to understand, hard to argue against, and yet a tool, an adjustment, that can be used to have Canadians money work for them. It would also show that CAP would not rock the boat if it was at the helm. Just like on a sailboat when you take the helm you have to maintain course and change course carefully as each course change slows down the boat and no one wants that.

Sovereignty…I’ll come back to that.

Civil and Human Rights. CAP needs to make it clear what this really means as these issues are impacting the lives of Canadians in a major way. Issues like wearing a burka, or other outward possibly offensive clothing or statements. Do religious rights trump gender or other human rights? This issue is really the foundation of CAPs position on many other issues including Canadian Aboriginals.

Right now an interim policy suggests that all Canadians are not to be treated equally. The Canada CAP appears to wants to create would have a system where access to rights and resources would be based on how long your family has been here and into which family you were born into. That is fine for an interim policy as it is likely meant to encourage discussion but is this really an end goal for a CAP Canada? Maybe, it is for most parties in Canada.

Parliamentary Reform. CAP wants an interactive democracy, whatever that practically means. Change to our Parliamentary system is going to happen, even under the current rules so having a position on this is important.

To me this ties into Sovereignty because what your view is on Sovereignty and interactive democracy will determine the direction you would move in and what changes you would want made.

Personally I am looking for a party that has an understanding of Canadian History and an appreciation that we do not have just one history, we have many. That means we are heading in many directions at once. A policy that understands that and works with it, rather than against it is going to be more democratic. It will have room for many Canadians, maybe all Canadians.

But most parties, for that matter many Canadians do not see that in Canada. When you suggest sovereignty or parliamentary reform they view it more as a winner takes all case. This view sees the battle for Canada to be a battle for Ottawa from which a single history and future will be forced on all Canadians.

So a question for you, really I guess I question for all CAP members. What would you like to see the pillars mean? What direction or policies would you like to see?

Once that future is seen, then one can march towards it.

had no idea that the Party was being eroded from within. I almost feel violated. My belief in this Party has not lessened in fact I feel more resolve to make it grow. I hope that our next leader has the ability to pull up the party and not try and bring it down.

I have one question: Why did Fogul stop one well respected , active, articulate candidate from running under the CAP banner? Was it her or did the candidate pose a problem?

Everyone has their own likes or dislikes. I would have to say that mine is that MP`s become accountable to the voters, not the other way that voters are accountable to their MP`s - as is the case now. We would expect the truth - no more, no less. Something which is very lacking at this point in time. We would also demand that gov`t works for the good of all people, not the chosen few.

When this happened I could not beleive it - but it did happen. The problem was, as I see it, that Connie thought she owned CAP - her word was law. Anyone that questioned her was dead. It is very ironical that the person I am talking about became a good friend of mine - through promoting CAP. Everything this person did was to promote/help CAP, even to the point of driving Connie around for meetings. The problem was Connie saw her as a potential rival - and that was a no no. That was all that mattered to Connie. Certainly not CAP.