OTTAWA — A digital petition once famously forced the White House to issue official comment on the idea of building an intergalactic Death Star as an economic stimulus program.
But Canadians hoping to make the same pitch to their federal government via official online petitions may have a slightly tougher time.
Proposed rule changes before the House of Commons on accepting electronic petitions would require an MP to support the request before a petition can be submitted.
Any online petition would also have to have 500 signatures before it could be tabled in the House; the threshold for paper petitions is only 25.
But if a petition is accepted, the government would have 45 days to respond and that response would have to be posted online.
The proposed changes are in a House of Commons committee report tabled last week and seek to have the new system in place after the next federal election.