Parliament now accepting e-petitions online

If you and 500 other people want to get your opinions across to Parliament, you can now do so online.

As of this current sitting, e-petitions are now accepted along with traditional paper protests.

MP for Charlottetown, Sean Casey, thinks it may encourage more Canadians to participate in the political process.

"It's a whole lot easier to fill people's inbox on their email than it is to fill their mailbox by hand," said Casey. "I've done both."

The idea came from a private member's bill during last Parliament, put forward from B.C. NDP MP Kennedy Stewart.

The bill received all-party support.

The petitions will be read in the House of Commons as usual there are 15 minutes set aside each day for readings.

Once a petition is tabled, government is required to respond within 45 days.

Modernization vs. tradition

Casey said this is a good way to bring the House into the modern age.

"There's an awful lot of things we do in the House of Commons that are based on British tradition and that haven't kept up with the times. This is but one example," he said.

"I think it's a good idea. I hope that it inspires [the House]to get with the technological age in many other of the things that we do."

Casey says that includes how the House votes.

"Anytime there's a question on which we're required to vote, the bells ring for 30 minutes," he explained. "Everyone is expected to be in their chair and there's a standing vote where the name of all 338 members is called out and as to whether they're yea or nay, and those names are called out twice and they're entered into some sort of a record, why we can't do that by the push of a button really makes no sense to me. It would be a great time-saver."

Casey hopes that will change in the future.

"I think that we can learn a lot from other jurisdictions and even other levels of government," he said. "But tradition is very, very important in this place and it seems to be a stronger force than efficiency by times."

In order to submit an e-petition, you have to create an account on the government's e-petition website, find a Member of Parliament to sponsor the petition, and then collect at least 500 signatures within 120 days.

• Read more: Parliament starts accepting e-petitions this week