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e-44 (Parliament of Canada)

E-petition
Initiated by Marguerite Marlin from Hamilton, Ontario

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas:
  • parliamentary practices relating to parliamentary discipline are known to limit legislators’ voting behaviour on a much wider array of issues than in other Westminster parliaments such as the Parliament of the UK;
  • the denial of travel requests or refusal of membership on desired parliamentary committees are tactics which former MPs have attested are used by party whips to compel voting behaviour on all manner of questions – including “free votes”; and
  • parliamentary experts have long called for the establishment of a federal parliamentary ombudsman.
We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, request (or call upon) the Government of Canada to:
1. ban formal or informal reprisals for MP voting behaviour on matters which do not pertain to questions of confidence – such as private members’ bills; and
2. establish an ombudsman’s office for the federal parliament, or similar office for the purpose of receiving Members’ complaints of inappropriate reprisals in accordance with 1. Senators shall also have access to this office for the purposes of reporting incidences of undue partisan coercion in the Senate.
Open for signature
January 12, 2016, at 3:26 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
May 11, 2016, at 3:26 p.m. (EDT)
Photo - Elizabeth May
Saanich—Gulf Islands
Green Party Caucus
British Columbia