A local MP wants to modernize how the House of Commons handles petitions. Burnaby-Douglas MP Kennedy Stewart brought forward a motion on Thursday, Feb. 16, urging the House to accept electronic petitions.
"It brings us into the 21st century. That's the key," Stewart said.
Constituents can bring petitions, with a minimum of 25 signatures to MPs, who can present them in the House. The government then has 45 days to officially respond. Stewart wants those petitions to be posted on the parliamentary website, so more people can view and sign them, and a minimum of 50,000 signatures would automatically trigger a one-hour debate in the House. The House only accepts signatures from Canadian residents, and Stewart's motion would not change that.
Issues that are discussed in the House of Commons tend to get a lot of media cover-age, Stewart said, and hearing electronic petitions would force parties to take sides on issues important to Canadians.
"It's a way for the public to force political parties to choose positions on things they don't want to talk about," he said.
Stewart is hopeful he will get a majority to support the motion, and he may bring it back as a bill to enshrine the changes in law.
Stewart credits his wife, Jeanette Ashe, for the idea. Ashe is a political science instructor at Douglas College.
Steve Anderson, executive director of Open Media, welcomed the concept.
"Making it so that the debate in parliament and policy is driven more by Canadians and less by the political climate in Ottawa is a really good thing," he said. "It sounds like that is partly what this will do."
The Internet is where a lot of people learn and socialize, he added.
"It's kind of logical that that's where people would sign things like petitions, and it's just easier to do," he said.
Open Media is a grassroots organization working to keep the Internet accessible and affordable.
