Hi Billco. I'm a member of PPCA (PPoC was dropped as the acronym quite some time ago) and would like to address a couple of your concerns;
First, most of the time the IRC channels are full of unstructured discussion - but not always. We have structured meetings on a regular basis as well, something that has improved in the last few months. As we development continues on our meeting bot, it'll get better.
Second, we're a young party in Canada and many of us are not professional fund raisers, political science majors, or lawyers. We don't have a war chest, so throwing around what money we do have isn't something we want to do in a wanton fashion. I'm sure that as we grow and attract those with backgrounds (hint, hint) that include these skills, we'll be able to do the "usual political song-and-dance."
Outside of our core concerns, our "party line" (if you will) is to make sure that we represent local constituents the way they want to be represented. Not promise things we can't deliver.
At first, I was somewhat taken aback by your tone and perspective... A look at the big red warning your about page on fnarg.com help me understand though. Maybe you'd be up to stopping by IRC in the future and looking me up? I'd be happy to discuss your concerns further.
Cheers,
- Scott (PPCA Clerk)