Fringe Party Profiles: The Canadian Action Party

Just a few years ago, Christopher Porter was the biggest dolphin salesman in the world. He would capture them down in the Solomon Islands and sell them to aquariums and resorts for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He argued that he was changing the local culture, where dolphins were killed for their teeth, but animal rights activists called him a "dolphin slave trader". They nicknamed him the "Darth Vader of Dolphins". The activist from The Cove — the Oscar-winning dolphin-slaughter documentary — showed up in person, fighting to have the operation shut down. It didn't work. But then last year, one of the killer whales Porter used to work with drowned its trainer at Sea World. It gave him second thoughts. Watching The Cove deepened them. He shut down his business, announced he was becoming an environmental activist and eventually came home to Canada, where last September he was named the leader of the Canadian Action Party.

The CAP was founded in the late-'90s by Paul Hellyer, a former Liberal cabinet minister, Conservative leadership candidate, and high-profile UFO advocate who wanted to present an alternative to the pro-globalization stance embraced by most of the big parties. Canadian Action is big on the word "sovereignty". They're against NAFTA, against a shared security perimeter with the United States, and against the war in Afghanistan. They're huge on monetary reform. They'd like the Bank of Canada to play a much bigger role in the economy, leaving less room for private banks and making it easier, they argue, to fund public programs. More controversially, their website also suggests they're skeptical about the "official story" of what happened on 9/11 and the benefits of compulsory vaccination.

In the last election, the Canadian Action Party ran 20 candidates and got 3,455 votes. That was 0.02%. They finished 11th out of the 19 parties who ran, just behind the Communists and ahead of the Marijuana Party.  

We got in touch with Porter earlier this week with some questions about his party, their policies, and their thoughts on the current campaign. Here are his responses:

How would you describe your party to a voter who isn't already familiar with it?

Dedicated to the principle that Canada can best serve its citizens and the world by re-claiming and maintaining its political and economic sovereignty as an independent country.

What kind of voter do you expect your party to appeal to?

Somebody that is proud to be Canadian and that wants to retain their sovereignty and protection of our natural resources for future generations of Canadians.

What do you think is the most important issue facing voters in this election?

Our Sovereignty and the lack of participation that government allows their bosses "THE VOTERS" before the fact, not after the fact. The integrated border scheme is a prime example (www.bit.ly/oneborder) where Canadians have only until April 21st to put their opinion on the concept of an integrated border that was already signed in February by a minority government found in contempt. Time to not be distracted by name calling and look at the protection of Canada. Our troops should be home protecting our Country not signing agreements to get others to do the task while we are busy making new enemies far away from our Great Land.

What do you see as the least important issue currently distracting attention away from more vital ones?

Least important issue is the leaders of the main parties spending more time telling people how much good they are without getting a track right to the people on the true issues. We are going to demonstrate how easy it is to listen to voters by running independent Citizens Insight Councils in ridings during the campaign to talk about THE REAL ISSUES OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE.

What do you see as the biggest flaw in the way the country has been run over the last few years?

It hands over the "car" (our Country) to a group of people that cannot decide where they want to drive to, how far they want to go, and how much money they have to get there. Time for everybody to return to an indigenous way of life and work through consensus so the "car" sits in the garage till we all decide where we are going. That way we don't waste gas or our time. We must sit down and plan what Canada looks like for the next seven generations. Think we could all agree the way it is going, that may not be the best place on Earth anymore.

Did your time in the Soloman Islands as a dolphin trader impact your political views and career?

It was that entire experience that got me into politics. I watched the IMF and World Bank come in under military use for a peaceful nation for gold and their natural resources. Privatizing immediately the valued resources with the reasoning that people did not have money. Never explaining to the villagers, who used teeth as currency. how rich they were. The villagers trusted me because I showed and shared with them how rich they were by raising the money value of a dolphin from $20 to over $165k. The complete lack of transparency by all the aid organizations and development banks that were saying they were helping them drove me to start asking questions. It brought me all the way back home to see my country already well in the grips of private lending institutions saying we are broke and we need to borrow money yet just like the Solomons we have tons of resources that we all of a sudden want to privatize. Does it make any sense to privatize our water for paper made from trees that we also cut down?

Much of your party's platform seems to revolve around monetary reform. Can you explain what the drawbacks of the current model are and why you think it needs to be changed?

Short answer 170 million dollars a day is paid on servicing our debt to private banks when we as Canadians own a National Bank given to us on August 15th, 1938. Why borrow from a stranger at interest while your friend is offering it to you just to help you?

Your website (and the Wikipedia article about the party) suggest skepticism concerning the official story of the 9/11 attacks. Is that a fair characterization? And if so, what aspects of it do you find questionable?

What we want is a citizens committee that can ask questions that have been raised by many experts. We entered into a war on terror based on the 9/11 attacks and so ask that we have all the information on the matter to ensure that we are not creating enemies and risking Canadians lives without the full picture. How did our government system get to the point that it is difficult to get questions answered? I am a firm believer that one cannot lie by asking questions. So why do people avoid them?

What's your response to people who suggest that voting for a lesser-known political party is tantamount to throwing your vote away?

By putting your vote behind principles you believe in, it shows your support. As more people choose to support the principles of what is attractive to people it gets picked up by the other major parties that are in it more (it would appear) as a full time industry. Supporting Monetary sovereignty (not being dependant on private banks) and the Protection of Our Sovereignty should be noted somewhere, should it not? Where else can one note their support of these concepts? By not voting they simply allow the big parties to play their minority game at the expense of our Country.

What is the biggest challenge you expect your party to face over the course of the campaign?

The amount of Canadians that contact us to say thanks for standing up for our Country.

What has to have happened by the time the election is over for you to look back on it as a success?

More Canadians have contacted us to say thanks for standing up for our Country.

What are your long-term hopes for your party? Where would you like to see it in five or ten years?

My long term hopes for the Party is that we no longer need a party that stands up for our Country's Sovereignty. Once we stop catering to giant corporations and private banking cartels that control our political will then CAP will not be needed. Till then we are Standing On Guard for Canada.


You can visit the Canadian Action Party online at www.VoteCAP.ca.

This is the first in a series of profiles we will be posting over the course of the campaign.  Here are the others we have published so far:

United Party of Canada, leader Brian Jedan, here.

Marijuana Party of Canada, leader Blair T. Longley here. 
Rhinoceros Party of Canada, leader Francois "Yo" Gound here.
Libertarian Party of Canada, VP of Political Action John Shaw here. 
Pirate Party of Canada, former leader Jake Daynes here. 
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada, leader Liz White here.
Christian Heritage Party of Canada, Executive Director Vicki Gunn here. 

Communist Party of Canada, campaign coordinator Dave Andrews here. 
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) leader Anna DiCarlo here.

UPDATE: The question "Did your time in the Soloman Islands as a dolphin trader impact your political views and career?" and the response were added in an update after this post was originally published.