Kennedy Stewart's motion to bring online petitions into the House of Commons has met some opposition, after two Conservative MPs rejected the idea last week.
According to Stewart, MP for Burnaby-Douglas, a Conservative MP that sits on a parliamentary standing committee that deals with House procedures and another Tory rejected the idea while the motion was debated on June 12.
"The government's position was pretty lame. They are going to oppose it because they say it constrains the (parliamentary) committee too much," Stewart said. "They are just looking for an excuse to oppose it. ... They don't say they oppose electronic petition or any parts of the motion, they just say the committee feels that I'm directing them too much in the motion. ... I've never heard that excuse before."
Stewart's motion calls for the government to study the idea of accepting electronic petitions and consider having an hour of debate in the House if the petitions garner a minimum number of signatures.
Currently, the House only accepts paper petitions with a minimum of 25 signatures. E-petitions, however, are already accepted in Quebec and in the U.K.
Stewart has support for the idea across party lines.
"One good thing that came out of the debate is the Liberals said they are going to support it. That means I have the 100 votes on my side of the house with the NDP, and I also have all the Liberal votes, as well. I really am sure that (Green party leader) Elizabeth May and the Bloc will support it. That means I only need to get a few backbenchers from the Conservatives to split off from their party and get this passed. I already have two, so I only need eight more. That's really my work this summer, to talk individually with these Conservatives backbenchers."
While it's rare for private members' motions to pass in the House of Commons, Stewart said they are often subject to free votes, meaning parties do not dictate how their MPs will vote.
Stewart's motion has been publicly endorsed by former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, high-profile conservative Preston Manning, Leadnow, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, among others.
Stewart's motion won't be debated again until the fall. If the motion passes, the parliamentary committee that handles House procedures will look at it.
According to a recent Angus Reid poll, four out of five respondents support bringing electronic petitions to Parliament.
For more information, go to betterpetitions.ca.
