Skip to content

Nathan Cullen hosts ‘Create Your Canada’ contest

Local MP Nathan Cullen has a contest for people who catch themselves saying, “There should be a law…”
12013019_web1_WEB-PRU.NathanCullenAllNative.1.SL
(File photo)

Local MP Nathan Cullen has a contest for people who catch themselves saying, “There should be a law…”

“The contest is very simple,” Cullen says.

“If you have an idea about a law you’d like to change, a way to make Canada better, write it down and send it to us.”

A panel of volunteer judges will pick one winner from all the suggestions, and Cullen will then fly that person to Ottawa to see him introduce their suggested legislation in the House of Commons as a private member’s bill.

Called Create Your Canada, Cullen was the first MP to launch the contest in 2009 as a way to involve high school students in lawmaking. But this year, Cullen has opened the contest to people of all ages living in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding.

Contestants can enter up to two ideas before the fall sitting of parliament, and the suggested laws must be constitutional.

While it is rare, over 200 private member’s bills have become law in Canada, including substantial changes such as the Non-Smokers’ Health Act. They can also spark national debate — to highlight the issue, a Liberal MP recently introduced one that calls for a national strategy to encourage the return of aboriginal cultural property.

Submissions for Create Your Canada can be emailed to nathan.cullen.c1@parl.gc.ca or mailed to his constituency office at PO Box 4919, Smithers BC, V0J 2N0.