As the years go by, Burnaby will always own the claim that it changed the face of our national democracy.
Well, it may be an overstatement at this point, but Burnaby can always say it was home to the first e-petition in the Parliament of Canada.
And since that first petition, in which a Burnaby couple called for a ban on shock collars on animals, made its way into the House of Commons last fall, dozens of other petitions on a range of issues from across the country have been certified and await a response from the government.
For Burnaby South MP Kennedy Stewart, the architect of the e-petition system, things have progressed exactly how he expected.
The NDP MP has sponsored 12 e-petitions so far, the most by any MP in the House of Commons.
Stewart said no one was sure how the e-petitions would work at first, but suggested the system is starting to gain popularity, noting 350,000 Canadian have signed a petition.
“It’s forcing politicians to take stands on issues and also empower the regular public to set the agenda in the House of Commons,” he said.
Some of petitions sponsored by Kennedy include a call for the federal government to provide a national daycare program, and a ban on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump from entering Canada.
Under the old rules, people had to collect a minimum of 25 signatures on paper and find an MP to table the petition in the House of Commons. Now, if there are 500 signatures, the government has 45 days to respond in writing.
As it stands, there are 83 e-petitions open for signatures, 41 have been certified, while 13 have had responses tabled by the government.
One of the responses was for the first e-petition regarding shock collars. The response by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada stated: “The Government agrees that animal cruelty laws should send a strong and clear message that animal cruelty is totally unacceptable in our society.” But the statement also noted the investigation and prosecution of conduct, such as the use of shock collars, is the responsibility of the provinces and territories.
Stewart called the response “lame” but also suggested it was a similar situation when e-petitions were introduced in the U.K. a decade ago. He said eventually they became popular enough that the government there was forced to debate them in the House of Commons.
Stewart believes that will eventually be the case with the Canadian e-petition system.
“Every time they write a lame response, that’s’ what people are getting in their inboxes, ‘you really care about this issue, and we don’t,’ that’s the kind of the message their sending,” he said.
Stewart isn’t the only Burnaby MP getting in on the e-petition act.
Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech has sponsored two petitions, including one calling for the government to reject the Trans Mountain pipeline project and another calling for creation of a National Farmers Market Day.
In the case of the pipeline petition, he said he was approached by a student who wanted to recruit people to sign the petition.
“I thought it was great there was a young person trying to participate in the democratic process, so that’s why we put that one forward,” Beech told the NOW.
When asked on his thoughts about the e-petition system, the MP said the ability to use technology to engage more people in the democratic process is always a good thing.
“I think we should be looking for as many channels as possible to engage our citizens,” he said.
But Beech also said sponsoring a petition doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an endorsement, adding he hasn’t put any staff resources behind the two with his name.
“If it’s reasonable and it’s sensible and someone is trying to organize in the community, then that’s what the system is for,” he said, noting he hasn’t been asked to sponsor a petition he sees as controversial.
To learn more about e-petitions, go to https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Home/Index.
