A Toronto man wants honesty to be the best political policy by approving a bill that holds the members of Parliament for lies.
Federico Sánchez has initiated an electronic request to the House of Commons that proposes legislation that could make politicians think twice before playing quickly and loose with the truth.
The petition urges federal politicians to present a bill “to address the issue of erroneous and real erroneous information presented by parliamentarians to the public.”
The request, which is making its way through the parliamentary process, says that erroneous information is a growing threat to the democratic process and a mechanism is needed to verify the public statements of parliamentarians to maintain confidence in the governing body of Canada.
An electronic request must gather 500 or more signatures to receive the presentation certification at the house, which opens the door to a formal government response.
The petition, which had more than 8,700 signatures on Tuesday, closes on November 27.
Sánchez, a doctor, once run out of success for political position as a progressive conservative in Ontario.
He said in an interview that he really doesn’t want to be a politician. Rather, Sánchez said he wants to prevent Canada from being directed along the path of the United States, where he sees the propagation without control of erroneous political information that erodes public trust.
“We don’t have such a bad problem with erroneous information from elected officials,” he said. “But we headed in that direction, if you ask me.”
The Welsh government seeks to introduce a new law
The petition points to a process that takes place in Wales as a possible approach to Canada.
The Welsh government has said that it will present a law that will disqualify politicians or candidates from public office if they are declared guilty of deception deliberate by an independent judicial process.
A Galea civil society group, the Institute for Constitutional and Democratic Research, subsequently proposed a model based on the existing regulatory law.
According to the model, if a court determined that a politician had made a false or misleading statement, could issue a “correction notice” that orders the individual to make a public correction.
If the politician refused to comply with the notice within seven days, without a reasonable excuse, the court could issue an order that prevented that politician from occupying a position in the Welsh Parliament for a period of time established.
Any registered voter may request a correction order, but the court could dismiss any request considered trivial, vexatory or that lacks a reasonable possibility of success.
“This model eliminates the ambiguity of the previous models because there is no requirement to determine the intention and preserves the freedom of expression of politicians because they have the opportunity to correct erroneous information without sanction,” says the Institute for Constitutional and Democratic Research.
Classify true of false not always easy: professor
Canadian politics professor Alex Marland said that while the impulse to hold the most responsible parliamentarians, it will generate a welcome discussion, see problems to implement said plan.
The political world can be complicated and distinguishing true from false is not always easy, said Marland, who teaches at the University of Acadia.
Sometimes, a politician could pronounce a falsehood or refuse to reveal information with the greater good in mind, he said.
“The strange thing about politics is that sometimes we cannot live in a world of full purity,” he said. “It’s a very messy field to be.”
Voters should be those who will decide who can serve in the legislature, Marland added. “It does not depend on the designated members of a Judiciary.”
Marland said the attention should resort to the queen on social networks platforms that accelerate the spread of political misinformation.
“Why do we somehow give a free pass to online platforms?” said. “If they are those that allow deception and lies and other things to spread, why isn’t the focus on them?”
