If an organization or individual is running a campaign or wants to share their opinion with Canadian politicians or parliament they would generally need to follow the following steps:
1. they would need to distribute their hard-copy paper petitions across this vast country (or at least have people print them off from where ever they are)
2. have them signed at various points across the country
3. then have them mailed back to the organizer (or directly to the sponsoring Member of Parliament)
4. and then to a Member of Parliament before they can be presented in parliament.
Electronic petitions (e-petitions, those petitions that can be 'signed' online) would save a tremendous amount of time and logistical effort for both organizations and individuals. Currently however, electronic petitions cannot be presented in the Canadian Parliament.
My rationale in support of e-petitions is quite simple. We live in a age where electronic communication is the norm and if communication mediums aren't online people very often view them as slow and cumbersome.
Organizations and individuals need to be enabled to share their policy recommendations or opinions, and paper positions take too much time to circulate, sign and compile for the average campaign or individual petition effort to be successful.
Many third-party petitioning sites already exist (and are likely signed by thousands of Canadians every day, although I don't have specific numbers) and despite the fact that these petitions can influence because of their sheer number they still lack an important influence mechanism: they cannot be presented in the Canadian Parliament.
The United Kingdom and the Government of Quebec (a province in Canada) already have tools and rules like this in place.
With that, it make clear sense to me why we should move this political engagement medium online to complement the use of paper petitions.
A Canadian Member of Parliament, Kennedy Stewart has a motion put forward to change the rules around e-petitions, recommending that the government of Canada build an online platform for petitions and allow e-petitions to be presented in the House of Commons.
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There are other less central reasons why I am in support of e-petitions:
- I assume it will be easier for Canadians who are living abroad to sign a petition that is electronic rather than paper. There are nearly 3 million Canadians living in countries around the world who should have the opportunity to have their opinion heard.
- I believe that increasing the variety and number of ways a citizen can be engaged in their democracy is a positive step forward.
- It sends a message to Canadians that the government is, or at least wants to listen.
I think Mr. Stewart's thought process on this is very strategic. This is one tangible way of addressing what he calls 'democratic decline', and shouldn't lend itself to major ideological opposition.
ReplyDelete"This e-petitions motion modernizes this process in two ways.
It increases access to the process by allowing petitioners to utilize social media and other online tools campaigns to raise awareness of their issue and gather signatures electronically.
It forces parliamentarians to take petitions more seriously, with the requirement of a one hour debate in the House of Commons on petitions that have secured 50,000 or more signatures."