They had their first MP elected in 1940 and had other members elected as members of the Labour Progressive Party.
In common with most communist parties it went through a crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1992 it changed its leadership and resisted pressures to reform.
It publishes a paper called The People's Voice.
The Communist Party is one of two Communist Parties in Canada, the other is the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada