Although it ran candidates in the federal elections of 1917, 1921, 1925, and 1926, it never succeeded in its goal of providing a national forum for the Canadian labour movement.
In Alberta, the CLP and its ally, the Dominion Labour Party, ran candidates in municipal elections and had some success.
The later Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, forerunner of the modern NDP, largely filled the role of a "Labour Party" after its founding in 1932.
In 1918, the Canadian TLC leaders adopted a "non-partisan" policy advocated by the American Federation of Labor and the CLP was largely abandoned.
It again espoused a reformist platform, including the nationalization of banks and public utilities, major extensions in social and labour legislation, and lower taxes on the working class.
Its primary failure on this front was its inability to convince the leaders of Manitoba's Independent Labour Party to affiliate.
(It may be noted that the Communist Party seems to have accepted the CLP's ban on electoral competition between affiliated groups, even to the point of endorsing some rightist labour candidates in whom they had little confidence.)
In the same year, J. S. Woodsworth accused the CLP of being controlled by Communist interests, and called for a new national alliance of Independent Labour Parties to take its place.
Also of note is the fact that the CLP maintained a formal alliance with labour organizations during its existence, as was done by its successor, the NDP (but was not done by the CCF, except in regards its relationship with the Brotherhood of Railway Employees).