CANADIAN ACTION PARTY

Leader:

Paul Hellyer has worked in a variety of businesses including manufacturing, retailing and land development. He became leader of CAP after developing serious concerns about the 1995 federal budget. According to the party website, he was particularly upset about the continual loss of sovereignty leading inevitably to the annexation by the United States. Hellyer and his wife live in Toronto. They have three children.

Party Origins:

The party was formed in 1997 by Canadians concerned about Americanization and the erosion of Canadian values, and refers to itself as both moderate and radical.

Candidates:

70 spread out over all 10 provinces and two of the three territories

Platform:

The party sees Canada as a country in crisis. The Canadian Action Party wants to preserve Canadian values and economic independence against what it sees as an disastrous interconnection with the U.S., which if not arrested, will eventually lead to Canada becoming the 51st state.

Quotable:

âThe speed of the tragic sell-out of Canada is accelerating, and that is why this election is so crucial.We wonât have another chance to reverse this disastrous course.â

(Paul Hellyer, Party Press Release, Nov. 9, 2000)

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA

Leader:

Youthful leader Miguel Figueroa represents the party in the riding of Toronto Danforth, a downtown area with a thriving Greek community. One of Figueroa's main concerns is to take advantage of the Communist Party's return to official party status in this election to fight for the interests of working class Canadians.

Party Origins:

Founded in 1921, the party's principles are based on Marxism-Leninism. The CPC claims to be Canada's party of socialism. The ultimate goal of its members is the creation of a socialist society.

Candidates:

The CPC is fielding 53 candidates in seven provinces in the November 27 general elections. Reaching the 50 candidate mark, it has regained its registered status, lost in 1993.

Platform:

The party summarizes its platform in four main goals: the reversal of privatization of public service and natural resources, the combatting of poverty and raising of living standards for working people, a steep increase in taxes on transnational corporations, the banks and wealthy individuals; and a new battle against the corporate agenda of globalization, and the loss of Canadian sovereignty.

The CPC hopes to scrap NAFTA and would make domestic job creation its number one priority

Quotable:

âThe real choice facing Canadians is between the corporate agenda advanced â to greater or lesser degree â by all of the mainstream political parties on the one hand, and those parties and policies that oppose neo-liberalism and globalization and stand for putting âpeople before profits,â on the other.â

(Leader Miguel Figueroa at campaign launch, Oct. 23rd, 2000)

MARIJUANA PARTY

Leader:

Aside from leading a registered political party in a federal election campaign, Marc-Boris St. Maurice has spent a great deal of time as a musician in a band called Grim Skunk. The leader attributes his political activism to a bust a decade ago for marijuana posession.

Party Origins:

The party grew out of another St. Maurice creation-the Bloc Pot in Quebec. St. Maurice began gathering support for that party at a Montreal smoke-in in 1997. Thanks to changes in Canadian election law this year making it easier for smaller parties to afford to run, St. Maurice decided to form the federal Marijuana Party.

Candidates:

The party is running 75 candidates in eight provinces, and is hoping to put the de-criminalization issue front and centre in races where they oppose noteables such as Alliance Leader Stockwell Day, Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin, and Environment Minister David Anderson.

Platform:

The party has one clearly defined goal: the de-criminalization of marijuana. It also calls for the release of all people imprisoned for marijuana-related crimes, pardons for Canadians with pot-related criminal records, and immediate access to medical cannabis for the seriously ill.

Quotable:

Prohibition is an infringement on the human rights and freedom of the people of our nation. It threatens individuals' security by limiting them to a criminal network for supply. It also undermines the possibility of promoting the concept of responsible use.

(Statement from leader Marc-Boris St. Maurice on partyâs official website)

MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY

Leader:

Sandra Smith was elected leader at the party's seventh Congress in March, 1998. She is a founding member and according to party literature is known for her work on the modern definition of rights and their defence.

Party Origins:

The party was founded on March 31, 1970 in Montreal. It held its first congress in Guelph, Ontario in May of the following year, where it adopted its constitution and elected 13 people to its first central committee. It is referred to by its members as the CPC (M-L), to avoid confusion with the CPC mentioned above.

Candidates:

84 candidates in 5 provinces: Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, B.C. That's 18 more than the party had in the 1997 election.

Platform:

The party stresses the protection and improvement of social programs. Members believe the major parties only care about social programs when they don't interfere with the agendas of major corporations. One of the party's major goals is to build Citizen Committees for Democratic Renewal to give decision-making power to citizens at the local level, that would be binding to the federal government.

Quotable:

On Canada's budget suprlus and the Liberal mini-budgetâ|

The anti-social surplus arose on the backs of Canadians who have seen social programs gutted during the anti-social offensive. Now the Liberals are cutting corporate taxes, capital gains taxes and income taxes mostly for the rich. Their mini-budget is an open declaration of partisanship to the monopolies and their supporters. It is a complete surrender to the trend of the rich getting richer and the poor poorer.

(from the official party website)

NATURAL LAW PARTY

Leader:

Edmonton native Neil Paterson was born in 1953 and was educated at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in the town of Wilcox, Saskatchewan. He later attended the Maharishi European Research University in Switzerland. Dr. Paterson is a teacher and researcher in the field of consciousness. According to his bio, he sits on the boards of directors of a number of schools, colleges and universities that offer consciousness-based education.

Party Origins:

Natural Law as a political entity came to Canada via Great Britain, where the party was formed in 1992. The movement's spiritual roots are much older, however, drawing from Vedic education principles which developed in India and hold as their goal the development of the full creative potential of the human consciousness.

Candidates:

Natural Law fielded candidates in Canada's 1993 and 1997 federal elections but has not won a seat. This time around the party has 68 candidates in eight provinces.

Platform:

One word describes the platform: harmony. The party supports natural health care programs and yogic flying (which to the casual observer looks like cross-legged bouncing), to unify the nation. Party veteran Dr. Ashley Deans, defines Natural Law as those laws or rules by which natureâs intelligence governs the growth and evolution of all life in the universe from levels smaller than sub-atomic particles to out beyond the farthest galaxies. The partyâs platform also calls for energy conservation, sustainable natural agriculture practices and the lowering of taxes through cost-effectiveness, not cuts in services.

Quotable:

The Natural Law Party's prevention-oriented government, conflict-free politics, and proven solutions to Canada's problems are designed to bring the life of the nation into harmony with natural law.

(statement on party home page)

GREEN PARTY

Leader:

Dr. Joan Russow was elected to the national leadership of Canada's Green Party in 1997. She has been an active campaigner for human rights and environmental protection. Russow is the co-founder of the Ecological Rights Association, the Vancouver Island Human Rights Coalition and the Global Compliance Research Project. She was born and raised in Ottawa and now calls Victoria home.

Party Origins:

B.C. became home to the continent's first Green Party in 1983. Within months Ontario Greens began organizing. The founding conference of the national Green Party took place that same year at Carleton University in Ottawa. The party ran 60 candidates in its first federal election, back in 1984.

Candidates:

156 candidates in 10 provinces and two territories

Platform:

It's clear from the name what the party's all about. Environment is front and centre in its platform, The Green Guide to a Healthy and Sustainable Canada. The Greens want to move the economy away from a focus on growth (and profit) towards the idea of sustainability --a process it believes will safeguard the environment better in the long run. The Greens want corporations to be completely responsible for any negative ecological impact their products create now or in the future, and the party would require polluters to pay compensation for past damage to the environment. It would also provide incentives for renewable energy development and would promote energy conservation.

Not content to remain strictly a party for the environment, the Greens are also pushing for a 32-hour work week with no reduction in employee pay. They believe that with lower health and social assistance costs taxes would then be lower. The number of work hours freed up would help to lower unemployment.

Quotable:

Canadian democracy is being eroded by globalization and the devolution of power to big corporations. Trade arrangements like NAFTA and the WTO cater to large multinational corporations, and cause jobs to migrate to wherever labour costs and environmental standards are lowest.

(from 2000 party platform)