Paul Hellyer

The Honourable Paul Theodore Hellyer, PC (born August 6, 1923 in Waterford, Ontario) is a Canadian politician who has had a long and varied career.

When he was first elected, as a Liberal in 1949 federal election in the riding of Davenport, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Canadian House of Commons. He served a brief stint as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Defence, and made a good impression. He was then named Associate Minister of National Defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent. This post was short-lived, though, as Hellyer lost his seat when the Saint-Laurent government lost the 1957 election a few months later.

Hellyer was re-elected to parliament in a 1958 by-election in the neighbouring riding of Trinity, and became an effective opposition critic of the John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative government.

When the Liberals returned to power in the 1963 election, Hellyer became Minister of National Defence in the cabinet of Lester B. Pearson. This was the most notable point in Hellyer's career. As Minister of Defence, he oversaw the controversial integration and unification of the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force into a single organization, the Canadian Forces.

Hellyer contested the 1968 Liberal leadership convention, losing to Pierre Trudeau. He served briefly as Trudeau's Transport Minister, and was Senior Minister in the Cabinet, a position similar to the current position of Deputy Prime Minister. Hellyer resigned in 1969 over a dispute with Trudeau over funding for a housing program.

Hellyer sat as an independent for several years. After Hellyer failed in an attempt to form his own political party, the Action Canada party, in 1971, Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield invited him to join the PC caucus. He returned to prominence as an opposition critic and was re-elected in the 1972 election as a Progressive Conservative. He lost his seat, however, in the 1974 election.

Despite this loss, Hellyer contested the PC leadership convention of 1976. His views were too right wing for most delegates, and alienated many Tories with a speech attacking Red Tories as not being "true conservatives". This was surprising, given that Hellyer had spent most of his political career as a Liberal. He finished a distant sixth of eight contestants on the second ballot.

Hellyer rejoined the Liberal Party in 1982, but remained mostly silent in politics. In 1988, he contested the Liberal nomination in the Toronto riding of St. Paul's, losing to former Liberal cabinet minister and his successor in the adjacent riding of Trinity, Aideen Nicholson.

He formed the Canadian Action Party (CAP) in 1995 to provide voters a nationalist option, following the collapse of the National Party of Canada. Hellyer was concerned that both the Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties were embracing globalization, and that the New Democratic Party (NDP) was no longer able to provide a credible alternative. CAP also embraced Hellyer's proposals for monetary reform: that the government should stimulate the economy by significantly increasing the supply of money in the economy, and prevent inflation by imposing wages and price controls.

His party remained in obscurity, and he lost bids for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1997 and 2000 elections.

Following the 2000 election, and the resurgence of the NDP, Hellyer approached the NDP leadership to discuss the possibility of merging the two parties into 'One Big Party'. This process was furthered by the passage of a unanimous motion at the CAP's convention in 2003.

In early 2004, after several extensions of the merger deadline, the NDP rejected Hellyer's merger proposal which would have required the NDP to change its name. Hellyer resigned as CAP leader, but remains a member of the party. The rumours that he might run for the NDP in the 2004 election proved to be unfounded.

Hellyer has written several books on Canada and globalization, as well as One Big Party: To Keep Canada Independent, in which he promoted the merger of the CAP, NDP and various left-wing activists to save Canada from annexation by the United States and globalization.

Peace in Space

On June 3, 1967 Hellyer flew in by helicopter to officially inaugurate an Unidentified flying object landing pad in St. Paul, Alberta. the town had built the landing pad as its Canadian Centennial celebration project, and as a symbol of keeping space free from human warfare. The sign beside the pad reads: "The area under the World's First UFO Landing Pad was designated international by the Town of St. Paul as a symbol of our faith that mankind will maintain the outer universe free from national wars and strife. That future travel in space will be safe for all intergalactic beings, all visitors from earth or otherwise are welcome to this territory and to the Town of St. Paul."

Throughout his life, Hellyer has been opposed to the weaponization of space. He supports the Space Preservation Treaty to ban space weapons.

External Links

• Hon. Paul Hellyer supports a ban on space weapons (http://www.cpcml.ca/tmld/D33116.htm#6)
• Official Website: Canadian Action Party (http://www.canadianactionparty.ca)

Preceded by: none	Canadian Action Party leaders 1997-2003	Succeeded by: Connie Fogal
Preceded by: John R. MacNicol	Member of Parliament for Davenport 1949-1957	Succeeded by: Murray Douglas Morton
Preceded by: Edward R. Lockyer	Member of Parliament for Trinity 1958-1974	Succeeded by: Aideen Nicholson
Preceded by: Jack Pickersgill	Minister of Transport 1967 - 1969	Succeeded by: James Armstrong Richardson Template:End box