Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 26th, 2015

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Lukiwski, are you back?

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

I'm back.

Thank you very much for the presentation. Generally speaking, I'm very impressed. That was good work in a short period of time.

You mentioned that there were some challenges you faced because of the tight timelines. Could you expand on that a bit? Are you very comfortable, with the odd exception, about some of the things you couldn't do because of the short timeframe, or are there still some areas that you might see improving?

Secondly, did you use any other jurisdiction's e-petition format as a model when you started developing this, or was this basically starting from square one?

[André Gagnon]

We certainly looked at a lot of models to build this one. I think the discussion that took place in front of this committee certainly led us where we wanted to go. As you have seen, this model is very simple to use. This was one of our main objectives, to make it as accessible as possible at the same time as making it as secure as possible. Those were two objectives that we had.

The main issue is the paper petition. With electronic petitions, you can imagine that once it's on the web it's already translated. It's on the web and it's in an electronic format. The responses we'll get from the government departments once the responses are tabled will also be made available electronically. When we have paper petitions, first of all they're not translated most of the time. Sometimes we get two petitions on the same subject and you can see that they are the translation of the same petition, but most importantly, they're usually not translated. That's the first thing.

We have a huge volume, at least 3,000 petitions every year, and they're not electronic. With the response we get from the department, the way it exists today is that there are only responses to petitions numbered 114, 244, etc. That's the only thing you get, and the text, with the response. Nowhere in the process do we have the electronic format of the petitions and the translation of each petition. This is something we need to look at for the next phase, and after that it's putting them on the web. You can imagine that 3,000 petitions is not a small thing. This is the main issue that we have.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Thank you for that.

Have you a best-guess estimate as to when you might be able to resolve the issue on the paper—?

[André Gagnon]

The discussion we have with the Privy Council will be very useful in that regard, and I think we'll get great support.

Our objective for now is to get this one done. With regard to the paper petitions, we are already looking at what process could be followed to get there. It would be hard for us to say “implementation” because it's hard for us to say whether we need additional investments, for instance. If that's the case, we would need to go to the board.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

I appreciate that.

I think we're going to have to wait and see. It will be a learning curve for all of us to see what the uptake will be on the e-petitions, as opposed to the traditional paper petitions. In probably a year from now, you'll be in a much better position to do an evaluation.

Tell me—I'm still a little unsure—how the e-petitions get posted on the web. After the questions are answered by the various departments, what role does PCO have, and how do the answers get up on the website?

[André Gagnon]

They will provide us with an electronic copy of the response at the same time as the copy is tabled in the House.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Is the House administration going to be posting these on the website?

[André Gagnon]

It will not be on the website of the Privy Council Office, but on that of the House of Commons.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

They will provide you with the answers, you being House administration, and House administration will post. Correct?

[André Gagnon]

Yes.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Good. That's fine with me.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Madame Latendresse, you may share with Mr. Scott, if you leave him any time.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

I have two fairly simple questions about the five individuals needed to submit a petition. How does that work?

If I want to start a petition, and five of my friends agree with me, am I supposed to enter their information myself and provide their email addresses?

I want to make sure I really understand how it works.

Afterwards, the five signatories must respond in the affirmative for the petition to be considered. Is that how it works?

[Jean-Philippe Brochu]

Yes, exactly.

When you fill out a form to create a new petition, you will be asked to register five of your friends, who will hopefully support your idea. At least five people are needed. You will have to provide their last name, first name and email address. The five signatories will receive a copy of your petition by email, and they will have to click on a link to accept. When they click on the link, they will be asked for additional information in order to be considered signatories, as will be the case for all other signatories.

Does that answer your question?

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Yes.

So what mechanisms will be in place? Let's say someone no longer has access to their email, and I do not have five signatories. As the sponsor, would I be able to add other names to at least reach that five-person threshold?

[Jean-Philippe Brochu]

Actually, it will not be possible to go back, but you could register more than five signatories from the outset. We have considered the situation and decided that a petitioner could register up to 10 of their friends. As soon as we receive five confirmations, the petition will go ahead.

There are all sorts of potential situations. Someone may misspell an email address or forget to respond. So we had to impose a limit, and we decided that 10 supporters could be registered.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Great. That is a clear response to my question.

I have another question. You say that MPs will be contacted, that they will receive one reminder after 10 days, another one 3 days before the closing date, with a 30-day timeframe. What will the process consist of? Will an email be sent to the general mailbox? How will MPs be contacted?

[Jean-Philippe Brochu]

An email will probably be sent to the MP's general mailbox. In all cases, MPs will be able to consult that page, or the website, regularly to check whether any requests are pending.

We still have to decide what email address it will be sent to. It may very well be sent to the MP's email address or to the individual designated by the MP to manage the petitions.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

That is a very good idea. You have answered my questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Scott.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you.

You have done an amazing job. I'm really quite excited about what this could do over time, so thank you.

At one point—I guess I was looking on the French page—there was

a subpage for sponsors. There are tabs for sponsored requests, and a tab for declined requests.

Who can see that? Is the sponsor the only one who can see it?

[Jean-Philippe Brochu]

Yes.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

So people, in general, won't know if I have declined a request.

[Jean-Philippe Brochu]

No, that information will not be made public.