We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, call upon our government to…
A fundamental principle of parliamentary democracy is the right of the public to have access to parliament by way of petition. A petition asks the government to consider an important public issue or policy, or be for or against the passage of a bill.
The action requested must be within the government’s scope of jurisdiction, and the request must be clear, concise, accurate and respectful.
Since the Canadian House of Commons and the BC Legislative Assembly (known as houses of parliament) are representative institutions, they consider only those matters presented to them by their own members (Members of Parliament (MPs) or Members of the BC Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Therefore, each government has very specific, but different, processes that must be followed for your paper petition to be sucessfully presented in either house.
Paper Petitions sent to the Government of Canada
The Government of Canada has an official process for accepting paper petitions, which falls under the responsibility of the Clerk of Petitions. The Clerk reviews each petition to ensure both the content and each signature follow all the rules. For example you need at least 25 approved signatures, and you must request a Member of Parliament (MP) to submit your petition on your behalf. Please review the information we have summarized for you below:
We have a paper petition ready for you to use that asks the Government of Canada to enter into discussions with the Government of Prince Edward Island (PEI) to implement a demonstration project for a Guaranteed Basic Income in PEI for at least five years. The content and format of this petition has been pre-approved by the Clerk of Petitions:
Petitions sent to the BC Government
Petitions to the BC Government follow similar, but different, process and rules. For example, unlike a federal paper petition, there is no minimum number of signatures required – a petition with just a single signature can be submitted (although to demonstrate broad public support, we recommend collecting more signatures). You must also ask a Member of the Legislature (MLA) to submit the paper petition on your behalf to in the BC Legislative Assembly. Again, it is important to follow the BC government’s guidelines and rules for submitting a paper petition, which we have summarized for you below:
We have a paper petition ready for you to use asking the BC Legislative Assembly to a support a provincial/federal partnership for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Demonstration Project in BC.
When starting a paper petition for presentation to either the federal or provincial government, please read and follow the process and rules for each government carefully so that your efforts are not wasted!
Basic Income BC 