melanaigis
05-08-2007, 11:17 PM
Any opinions on these cats?
http://www.canadianactionparty.ca/
They have a comprehensive platform that seems to stem from good old-fashioned Canadian nationalism (meaning, of course, that it is thoroughly laced with thinly-veiled anti-Americanism). They remind me of Mel Hurtig's now defunct National Party that arose during the Mulroney era chiefly to fight against the Free Trade Agreement. The FTA is CAP's main bugaboo, as they see it as a threat to Canadian sovereignty.
Their leader is Connie Fogal, widow of Harry Rankin, one of the founders of the left-wing Vancouver civic party COPE, and a city councillor for two decades. While Harry wasn't a member of the Communist Party, it was widely known that they were probably the biggest influence in COPE during the Rankin years. I see echoes of CP-style nationalism in their platform, too, as the CP always spoke of "Canadian sovereignty" in their platform. CAP doesn't go so far as to call for a mass nationalization of industry, but they do support the existence of the welfare state, as far as I can tell.
With their focus on "monetary control" and the Bank of Canada, they allude to elements of classic Social Credit monetary theorists and various Canadian bank-centric fringe parties throughout the years. This gives them a little bit of a right-wing edge.
They also seem to be heavily linked to by fringe, conspiracy and New Age sites: this is the first I've visited their site since the last federal election, and it was linked by a "Truth 9/11" site, and seems to permeate these networks.
One of the party leaders is former Pearson-era Liberal Party Defence Minister Paul Hellyer. He recently made a media splash by speaking at a UFO conference, saying that world governments need to, to paraphrase, "come clean on what they know about alien UFO technology" in order to save the environment. His former standing as Defence Minister gave him some credibility amongst the UFO crowd, as they can now put forth the argument that he was in a position to know about this kind of thing.
The CAP looks to me like an interesting blend of various Canadian nationalist traditions and strands with an element of "alternative" theories thrown in. Par for the course with small parties, I suppose, but you don't find too many strong nationalists in the "big three" anglo parties anymore, or in the Greens, for that matter. In some cases the rhetoric seems a throwback to Diefenbaker, so they might attract some old Red Tories to the fold.
http://www.canadianactionparty.ca/
They have a comprehensive platform that seems to stem from good old-fashioned Canadian nationalism (meaning, of course, that it is thoroughly laced with thinly-veiled anti-Americanism). They remind me of Mel Hurtig's now defunct National Party that arose during the Mulroney era chiefly to fight against the Free Trade Agreement. The FTA is CAP's main bugaboo, as they see it as a threat to Canadian sovereignty.
Their leader is Connie Fogal, widow of Harry Rankin, one of the founders of the left-wing Vancouver civic party COPE, and a city councillor for two decades. While Harry wasn't a member of the Communist Party, it was widely known that they were probably the biggest influence in COPE during the Rankin years. I see echoes of CP-style nationalism in their platform, too, as the CP always spoke of "Canadian sovereignty" in their platform. CAP doesn't go so far as to call for a mass nationalization of industry, but they do support the existence of the welfare state, as far as I can tell.
With their focus on "monetary control" and the Bank of Canada, they allude to elements of classic Social Credit monetary theorists and various Canadian bank-centric fringe parties throughout the years. This gives them a little bit of a right-wing edge.
They also seem to be heavily linked to by fringe, conspiracy and New Age sites: this is the first I've visited their site since the last federal election, and it was linked by a "Truth 9/11" site, and seems to permeate these networks.
One of the party leaders is former Pearson-era Liberal Party Defence Minister Paul Hellyer. He recently made a media splash by speaking at a UFO conference, saying that world governments need to, to paraphrase, "come clean on what they know about alien UFO technology" in order to save the environment. His former standing as Defence Minister gave him some credibility amongst the UFO crowd, as they can now put forth the argument that he was in a position to know about this kind of thing.
The CAP looks to me like an interesting blend of various Canadian nationalist traditions and strands with an element of "alternative" theories thrown in. Par for the course with small parties, I suppose, but you don't find too many strong nationalists in the "big three" anglo parties anymore, or in the Greens, for that matter. In some cases the rhetoric seems a throwback to Diefenbaker, so they might attract some old Red Tories to the fold.