Toronto man leads political honesty petition to hold elected officials accountable

Toronto local Federico Sanchez created an electronic petition to confront political dishonesty and hold members of the House of Commons accountable for spreading false public statements in Canada.

The political honesty petition, available on the House of Commons website, is calling on Parliament to address misinformation and the threat of MPs spreading it to the public. 

The petition has received widespread public support, with more than 40,000 signatures across Canada, and has surpassed the threshold for Parliament review. 

Sanchez, a physician who previously ran for office as a Progressive Conservative in Ontario, says he created the petition because he was concerned about misinformation, as it’s a threat to Canadian democracy. 

“This is a protest saying, ‘We know you guys are doing this and we want you to stop, because we’re tired of the country getting threatened, and you need to shape up and take care of the country. That’s what we elected you to do,’” he says.

Sanchez says people tend to believe falsehoods from MPs they trust, which undermines public trust and could put a strain on society.

“The biggest threat to Canada today is elected officials spreading misinformation — and that specifically is what this petition is all about,” he says.

In 2023, 43 per cent of Canadians thought it was becoming harder to distinguish between true and false news or information, Statistics Canada reported.  

“AI is adding gasoline to a fire,” he says. “You can have a politician who says something that’s not true, and then AI accepts that as truth and spews it out.”

Sanchez experienced this when Google’s artificial intelligence service, Gemini, summarized the petition and its creator incorrectly.

While the political honesty petition is directed at MPs in Canada, it draws inspiration from countries across the world. 

Wales has recently proposed a bill aimed to address the spread of misinformation by elected officials. Sanchez says the model processes disputes and resolves them quickly, taking about two weeks.

While he admires the Welsh model, Sanchez says Canada needs to adopt its own system against misinformation.

“[Wales has] a different history. [Canada has a] similar Parliament, but it is a little bit different. We need a solution that’s uniquely Canadian and that respects our traditions, our history, and our processes,” Sanchez says. 

The deadline for the petition is Nov. 27. Sanchez encourages people to sign as it’s only the beginning of the political honesty conversation.

“If we can have some kind of solution that makes sense across Canada, other countries might adopt it, and we might be able to stop the craziness that’s happening,” Sanchez says.