Evidence of meeting #144 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was signatures.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
The original submitter, I would assume, would be notified that it had been killed, and the member of Parliament who sponsored it would be notified that it had been killed.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Obviously, the member of Parliament might not be back.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Right, so a new member of Parliament would have to sponsor it in any case. Again it goes back to the issue we had before, about binding one Parliament from the previous one.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
We're talking about paper petitions right now, right?
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I don't see any reason to change the status quo on either digital or paper on this one.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
The digital ones you can keep in your office and they can be recertified, right?
For paper, you hang on to them. In the new Parliament, if someone wants to recertify them, they come to you, and they can be recertified.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
If you submit a paper petition for certification, it comes back to you, signatures and all.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
They're just saying that you don't have to come back. You keep it and recertify it in the next Parliament if someone so requests.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Once it's certified, it comes back to us. We have it in our hands, and it's up to us to table it. Once it's tabled, it's a moot point, and if it hasn't been tabled, it's still yours. You take off the green sheet and you give it back to the clerk and you do it again.
It doesn't work the same way, because there's no time limit on petitions. The whole structure is different. There are 25 signatures, not 1,000, and there's no time limit. They are two totally different systems. I don't seen why one should influence the other.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
How do you know it's one you're recertifying? Do they have a number or something on them?
12:40 p.m.
Deputy Clerk, Procedure
Yes. When you receive a certified petition, there is a number associated with it. I suspect that when members resubmit it for recertification, the green page is usually still on it, and if it's not, there are no issues about that, because the clerk of petitions will look at it in the usual fashion.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
If on June 20 a petition that had 120 days to go has 499 signatures, and Parliament's dissolved and we rise on June 20, and there's an election in the fall, those 499 people have lost it. They have to start all over again under the present system.
12:40 p.m.
Deputy Clerk, Procedure
The electronic petitions would continue during the summer until, let's say, September 1 or whenever—
12:40 p.m.
Principal Clerk, Chamber Business and Parliamentary Publications
It's not even if it's at 499. If it's at 40,000, and it hasn't been presented, those 40,000 signatures are lost.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
A hundred and twenty days after June 20 is October 17, I think, which is before the election in any case. In those 120 days, it's going to die no matter what.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
It's not going to happen in any case. Perhaps the compromise here, André and Jeremy, is for the petition system to say, “Warning: If you submit this petition, it has no chance of being presented”, with this parameter. The website just says, “You can submit it if you want, but it's going to die.”
12:45 p.m.
A voice
We could have nicer words than that, but....
12:45 p.m.
Deputy Clerk, Procedure
That's a positive way to encourage public participation.