Party Leadership

The Communist Party of Canada is a voluntary organization and works on the basis of collective leadership. This is expressed by the principle of democratic centralism, outlined in our constitution.  Democratic centralism combines the maximum of democratic discussion and participation of the membership in Party life, with the obligation to carry out majority decisions and execution of these decisions by an elected centralized leadership capable of leading the entire Party.

All Party committees are elected.  Elected committees are bound by Party policies as decided by conventions.  They have the right to make decisions on the basis of these policies, and all Party members and lower Party committees are obliged to carry them out.  All Party committees must report regularly on their work to the Party organization which elected them and must abide by the principle of collective leadership coupled with individual responsibility.

The Party holds regular Central Conventions to decide on important matter of policy and elect the leadership of the Party at least once every three years.  The convention elects a Central Committee (CC) for dealing with the business of the Party between conventions. The Central Committee in turn elects a Central Executive Committee (CEC) to manage the affairs of the Party between meetings of the Central Committee. The composition of the newly-elected CEC is then brought to the floor of the Convention and must be approved by the delegates in a confirmation vote. The convention also elects an electoral leader and ratifies the leader of the Party elected by the Central Committee.

At the 37th Central Convention held April 5-7, 2013, the Central Committee was enlarged to 22 members and 12 Alternate members. The following members of the Central Executive Committee were elected by the incoming CC, and confirmed by Convention:

Jane Bouey, Kimball Cariou, Miguel Figueroa,Pierre Fontaine, Sam Hammond, and Elizabeth Rowley

Miguel Figueroa was re-elected as Leader and electoral leader (as required by Elections Canada)