[2] The PPCA is modelled on the Swedish Pirate Party and advocates intellectual property reform, privacy protection, network neutrality and greater government openness.

In 2003, to combat this legislation, a group of artists, musicians, and cultural workers founded a think-tank called the Piratbyrån — the Piracy Bureau.

...we keep our funny name but use it to get the attention to spread to our very important causes.In June 2009, the PPCA was founded by a handful of Canadian supporters active on the web forums of the Pirate Parties International collective.

Issues included a hard-to-reach quorum for General Meetings and the difficulties of the Federal Council members running for office while also handling party paperwork and administration.

[citation needed] Despite these claims, Elections Canada has all of the party's 'Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Statements of Revenues and Expenses' from 2011 until the present.

[26] Pirate Party Radio was a weekly audio show from 2009–2011 produced by the Canadian RantMedia and host James O'Brien.

In 2011, in response to lawful access legislation that was being put forward in Parliament, the party announced it would launch a VPN service to help guard Canadians' online privacy.

[32] Whether you watched a movie at a friend's house that you didn't pay for, or if you borrowed a book, that's essentially what they are calling piracy.The central principles of the PPCA include the establishment of transparent government, a basic income guarantee, personal autonomy,[34] and traditional Pirate Party ideals such as intellectual property reform, patent reform, net neutrality, and internet privacy.

[2] The party explicitly called for net neutrality in Canada, and suggested that medical patents are preventing innovations that could save lives.

[35] Candidates have also suggested that making government records available online may encourage transparency, and allow citizens to more directly scrutinize and participate in the process.

[45] While the Executive Board and Political Council can act independently in most matters, the General Meeting has veto power over their decisions and may pass their own motions.

[21][49] Jeff Coleman, a 25-year-old small business owner, was the first Pirate Party of Canada candidate to run for federal election.

[54] On October 11, 2013, McCrea stepped down from the leadership of the Pirate Party of Canada, and withdrew his name from the by-election, citing depression.

[69] David Shipley, an analyst at the University of New Brunswick's Information Technology Services department, has criticized the party for running mostly on Internet-related issues, which may not be enough to garner votes.

"[6] Jon Pammett, professor of political science at Carleton University, sees issues with small single-issue parties, like the PPCA.