The Clerk of the Assembly reads your petition
if it is in order, under
an agenda item called Presenting Petitions . MLAs pay close
attention to your request, but it is not clear what effect petitions have on
government policy, especially if your request goes against a major government
policy or philosophy. In fact, asking for government action through
petitions is less common than it used to be, partly because Oral Question Period is a quicker and more public means to bring up important issues. As well,
members asking questions in the Chamber have better access to cabinet ministers
than do citizens presenting petitions. But perhaps when combined with
other strong indications that most Albertans want the government to move in a
certain direction on a certain issue, petitions can have the results you want
them to have.


