1. Setting the scene
This Chapter starts by introducing the OECD’s approach to open government and by explaining the process used for the collection of data and the elaboration of the Review’s policy recommendations. It then discusses what an Open Government Strategy represents in the Canadian context, including its key elements. The final part of this Chapter situates Canada’s open government agenda in the wider context, analysing the main achievements and identifying areas of opportunity moving ahead.
Open government constitutes a change of paradigm in the way public institutions and civil servants interact with citizens and stakeholders in general. Under this new paradigm, citizens have access to all kinds of relevant government information and data and are enabled to fully participate in the democratic life of their country throughout the electoral and policy cycles.
Defined by the OECD as “a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth” (OECD, 2017[1]), open government is intended to be a wide concept encompassing all kinds of initiatives that aim to bridge the existing gaps between citizens and their public administrations.
Canada has been a pioneer in several fields of open government, including open government data and access to information. The country is today recognised as one of the leaders of the global open government community, having for example shaped the global debate around open government issues as the co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) between 2018 and 2019, and by being among the most committed and vocal members of the OECD Working Party on Open Government (WPOG), including as a member of the WPOG’s bureau. At a national level, Canada has a long tradition of promoting open government reforms, dating back at least to the entry into force of the Access to Information Act in 1983. Since 2011, the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) of the Federal Government of Canada has been leading an ambitious open government agenda, co-ordinating Canada’s participation in the OGP and promoting open data and open information practices across the whole of the federal government and aligning open government policies and practices in partnership with Canada’s provinces and territories.
This OECD Open Government Scan of Canada was conducted at the request of the Treasury Board Secretariat of the Federal Government of Canada, which has been also the main counterpart for the Scan-process. TBS has sought OECD advice following an Evaluation of the Open Government Program (hereafter “the Evaluation”) that was prepared by the TBS Internal Audit and Evaluation Bureau for the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee (Government of Canada, 2021[2]). The Evaluation assessed the relevance and effectiveness of the Open Government Program, covering fiscal years 2016-2017 to 2018-19. Among other findings, it highlighted that “there is a need for a strong vision of open government in the Government of Canada”. As its primary action to implement the recommendations made in the Evaluation, the Treasury Board Secretariat decided to design a Federal Open Government Strategy (OGS) as the main guiding document on open government for the federal government.
The research and interviews conducted for this OECD Open Government Scan are aligned with the findings of the Evaluation and highlight the opportunities that an Open Government Strategy would provide. The primary objective of this Scan is therefore to support Canada in the successful design and implementation of its first whole-of-government Open Government Strategy. The present document provides recommendations that are tailored to the Canadian context and that are based on OECD best practices in the area. In so doing, the Scan assesses Canada against key dimensions of the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government (OECD, 2017[1]), the first and only internationally recognised legal instrument in the area of open government (Box 1.1).
Following a definition of the concept of open government (this section), the Scan highlights important contextual elements for Canada’s ambition to design an Open Government Strategy, discussing achievements to-date, as well as areas of opportunity lying ahead (Open government in Canada today). Based on this context, chapter 2 then provides recommendations that Canada could take into consideration when designing and implementing its first OGS. The conclusion discusses how the OGS could be a first step towards a fully integrated open government ecosystem while the final section of this Scan discusses elements that should be included in any OGS, from vision to objectives and concrete open government initiatives.
The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government (2017[1]) is the result of years of extensive research, data-collection and in-country policy analysis. Recognising that open government is critical to building citizen trust and to achieve a broad range of policy outcomes, the Recommendation provides guidance to countries that aim to consolidate their open government agendas and lists a set of criteria for the design and implementation of successful open government policies. These ten provisions concern not only the enabling environment for open government, for example an adequate legal framework, but also implementation frameworks, such as public communication processes, and directions for cutting-edge developments, such as the move towards an “open state”.
The 10 Provisions of the Recommendation
RECOMMENDS that Adherents develop, adopt and implement open government strategies and initiatives that promote the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in designing and delivering public policies and services, in an open and inclusive manner. To this end, Adherents should:
1. take measures, in all branches and at all levels of the government, to develop and implement open government strategies and initiatives in collaboration with stakeholders and to foster commitment from politicians, members of parliaments, senior public managers and public officials, to ensure successful implementation and prevent or overcome obstacles related to resistance to change;
2. ensure the existence and implementation of the necessary open government legal and regulatory framework, including through the provision of supporting documents such as guidelines and manuals, while establishing adequate oversight mechanisms to ensure compliance;
3. ensure the successful operationalisation and take-up of open government strategies and initiatives by: (i) Providing public officials with the mandate to design and implement successful open government strategies and initiatives, as well as the adequate human, financial, and technical resources, while promoting a supportive organisational culture; (ii) Promoting open government literacy in the administration, at all levels of government, and among stakeholders.
4. co-ordinate, through the necessary institutional mechanisms, open government strategies and initiatives - horizontally and vertically - across all levels of government to ensure that they are aligned with and contribute to all relevant socio-economic objectives;
5. develop and implement monitoring, evaluation and learning mechanisms for open government strategies and initiatives by: (i) Identifying institutional actors to be in charge of collecting and disseminating up-to-date and reliable information and data in an open format; (ii) Developing comparable indicators to measure processes, outputs, outcomes, and impact in collaboration with stakeholders; and (iii) Fostering a culture of monitoring, evaluation and learning among public officials by increasing their capacity to regularly conduct exercises for these purposes in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
6. actively communicate on open government strategies and initiatives, as well as on their outputs, outcomes and impacts, in order to ensure that they are well-known within and outside government, to favour their uptake, as well as to stimulate stakeholder buy-in;
7. proactively make available clear, complete, timely, reliable and relevant public sector data and information that is free of cost, available in an open and non-proprietary machine-readable format, easy to find, understand, use and reuse, and disseminated through a multi-channel approach, to be prioritised in consultation with stakeholders;
8. grant all stakeholders equal and fair opportunities to be informed and consulted and actively engage them in all phases of the policy-cycle and service design and delivery. This should be done with adequate time and at minimal cost, while avoiding duplication to minimise consultation fatigue. Further, specific efforts should be dedicated to reaching out to the most relevant, vulnerable, underrepresented, or marginalised groups in society, while avoiding undue influence and policy capture;
9. promote innovative ways to effectively engage with stakeholders to source ideas and co-create solutions and seize the opportunities provided by digital government tools, including through the use of open government data, to support the achievement of the objectives of open government strategies and initiatives;
10. while recognising the roles, prerogatives, and overall independence of all concerned parties and according to their existing legal and institutional frameworks, explore the potential of moving from the concept of open government toward that of open state.
Source: OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government (2017[1]), https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0438.
The process of this OECD Open Government Scan of Canada
This OECD Open Government Scan is part of a wider collaboration between the Open Government and Civic Space Unit of the OECD and the federal government of Canada that started in 2020. The overall aim of this collaboration is for the OECD to support the government of Canada in the design of its first integrated Open Government Strategy.
The findings included in this Scan are based on Canada’s responses to the 2020 OECD Survey on Open Government (OECD, 2021[3]), as well as a follow-up questionnaire that the OECD Secretariat shared with the Treasury Board Secretariat in early 2021. The results of these questionnaires allow for benchmarking and put Canada’s policies and practices in an international comparative perspective.
The Scan’s findings were enriched through a virtual fact-finding mission that took place over the course of June and July 2021 and during which the OECD team interviewed numerous stakeholders from Canadian federal and provincial governments, as well as a number of other stakeholders (28 public and non-public stakeholders overall)1.
Putting the principles of open government into practice, is not simply a technical matter of having the right legislation or systems in place. Rather, it is about transforming the entire culture of governance so that citizens are enabled and empowered to understand how governments work, to scrutinise their action and to participate in the decisions that matter the most to them. This is especially relevant for those citizens whose interests are usually underrepresented in government institutions and processes.
The prevailing governance culture of a country touches upon every institution and every individual public official and has deep implications for the relationship between public institutions and citizens. An open government culture of governance requires governments to be receptive to citizens’ demands and change their daily operations as to include them and serve their needs. In sum, an open government requires a culture of governance that puts citizens at the heart of any public action and decision.
Such a transformation requires cultural changes for both public officials and citizens. This involves changes in individual and institutional values, skills, beliefs, norms of conduct, and expectations, which are materialised in new policies, services and public goods, among others. At the institutional level, it requires a new set of processes to transform the internal ways of working, and new norms and values that integrate open government as an intrinsic responsibility of the state. At the individual level, this new paradigm means new ways of thinking public service and adapted skills to deliver public action in a transparent, accountable and participatory manner. At all levels, the cultural change requires an adapted mind-set that understands the benefit of citizens’ inputs.
This Scan aims to support Canada in moving towards the creation of an open government culture of governance through the design and implementation of its first-ever Open Government Strategy.
Source: Author’s own elaboration.
Source: Author’s own elaboration.
While initiatives to foster the open government principles of transparency, accountability, integrity, and stakeholders’ participation have been a priority on countries’ policy agendas and political discourse for at least the past decades, it is only in recent years that governments have started to move towards a more holistic and integrated approach to the promotion of openness (OECD, 2020[4]). Building on successful practices and the experience gathered, the global open government movement has started to become more mature. Along with the progressive improvement, consolidation, and institutionalisation of countries’ open government agendas, there is an increasingly loud call for performance indicators to measure their contribution to broader policy goals such as trust in government and more generally to socio-economic outcomes (Ibid.).
The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government (Box 1.1) recognises “the need for establishing a clear, actionable, evidence-based, internationally recognised and comparable framework for open government, as well as its related process, output, outcome and impact indicators taking into account the diverse institutional and legal settings of the Members and non-Members”. In the OG Recommendation, the OECD Council instructed the PGC to “[…] develop process and impact indicators against which to measure the implementation of this Recommendation”.
In a first step, the OECD Secretariat therefore elaborated the OECD Framework for Assessing the Openness of Governments (OECD, 2020[4]), proposing a clear roadmap for the development of open government indicators. By restructuring and systematising the ten provisions included in the OG Recommendation, as well as relevant elements from other OECD Recommendations, as a theory of change, the Framework aims to clarify the relationships and interplays between all the elements involved in an open government culture of governance. The Framework describes how the principles of open government can be put into practice by public administrations to produce meaningful and measurable impacts for them and for citizens and stakeholders. It also aims to support countries in taking a more integrated and structured approach to the promotion of openness that includes all of the key building blocks of a truly open government (e.g. open government data, open budgeting; open contracting; civic space; citizen participation; etc.) co-ordinated under the umbrella of a whole-of-government Open Government Strategy.
Source: OECD (2020[4]), A Roadmap for Assessing the Impact of Open Government Reform, Paper presented to the OECD Working Party on Open Government
Based on the framework (OECD, 2020[4]), the OECD is currently in the process of developing three different sets of indicators:
1. The OECD Open Government Dashboard which shows the inputs and processes of open government reforms;
2. The OECD Open, Participatory and Representative Government Index which analyses the level of openness governments have achieved; and
3. Results Indicators showing the broader effects of openness on the relationship between governments and citizens and on the functioning of the state.
Based on the results of the 2020 OECD Survey on Open Government (OECD, 2021[3]) (to which Canada contributed), the OECD Open Government Dashboard focuses on the governance arrangements and mechanisms that countries have put in place for their open government agendas (inputs and processes2, as identified in the Framework, see Figure 1.3). It includes numerous indicators on governance topics, such as co-ordinating open government reforms, monitoring and evaluation of open government reforms and the legal framework for open government. These indicators give a snapshot of measures that governments are taking to foster openness. For the first time, the Dashboard gives the open government and public governance community the possibility to track progress, compare practices and establish benchmarks on a diverse range of open government topics. It is against the standards established in the indicators contained in the Dashboard that Canada’s governance of open government will be assessed throughout this Scan.
As a basis for the second indicator, the OECD Open, Participatory and Representative Government Index, the Secretariat elaborated the OECD Openness Spectrum (Figure 1.4): The Spectrum seeks to identify what a truly open government looks like in practice (as, for example, opposed to a closed government). According to OECD research (OECD, 2020[5]), a government that is open allows its citizens to see, understand and monitor its activities and decisions; provides them with the opportunity to demand answers and hold it to account; and allows them to influence its activities and decisions. Accordingly, a government’s openness can be measured along the following dimensions (OECD, 2020[5]):
Government informs is about citizens being able to access relevant, up-to-date, and re-usable information and data about governmental policies, services and functions (such as the budget, asset declarations). Being closely associated with the open government principle of transparency, this dimension constitutes openness in its most “static” way: Citizens are passive receivers of information (one-way relationship).
Government responds is about governments’ capacity and willingness to respond to citizens’ requests, complaints and feedbacks and allow for social control. This dimension requires a two-way relationship between governments and citizens (i.e. citizens approaching government with a certain demand (e.g. an access to information request).
Government interacts is about citizens’ ability to provide constructive inputs to the government’s decision-making process. As such, this dimension is strongly linked with the open government principle of participation. This dimension constitutes the most “dynamic” form of openness, since it makes citizens active contributors to public decision-making.
Government represents is about citizens being represented in elected bodies and the executive. As such, this dimension measures the diversity in the actual composition of elected bodies and the civil service.
The four dimensions of openness (inform, respond, interact, and represent) have to be underpinned by a protected civic space in order to become operational. A healthy civic space is a precondition for and facilitator of open government initiatives. The fifth dimension of the OECD Openness Spectrum is therefore:
Government promotes and protects civic space is about allowing citizens to exercise their rights on an equal basis with others. Government needs to protects fundamental civic freedoms and rights (online and offline) and guarantee inclusiveness and non-discrimination in order to become truly open.
The Openness Spectrum constitutes the foundation of the OECD’s approach to the implementation of open government reforms. It, hence, provides the conceptual basis for the discussions included in this Scan, including for example those relating to an update of Canada’s definition of open government (see The OGS should be built on a broader understanding of the concept of open government).
Source: Authors own elaboration
The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government (2017[1]) defines an Open Government Strategy as:
“A document that defines the open government agenda of the central government and/or of any of its sub-national levels, as well as that of a single public institution or thematic area, and that includes key open government initiatives, together with short, medium and long-term goals and indicators”.
An Open Government Strategy presents a whole of government roadmap for a country’s open government agenda. It provides an umbrella policy framework that can align all strategies and initiatives that are linked to the promotion of openness, as defined in the OECD Openness Spectrum (Figure 1.4), and bring them together under a coherent medium- to long-term narrative. As such, it differs from an action plan (such as the OGP action plan) in many ways (Table 1.1).
Recognising the benefits of having such an umbrella policy framework for open government in place (see Box 1.2) for a discussion of potential benefits of an OGS), an increasing number of OECD Member and Partner Countries, including Finland, Colombia, Italy, Argentina, Romania, Tunisia and Morocco, have started designing and / or implementing Federal / Central Open Government Strategies. More detailed information on existing country practices can be found in the OECD paper Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy (2020[5]).
An OGS ensures whole-of-government policy coherence
An OGS can provide the umbrella for all open government initiatives implemented in a country and ensure that they follow similar methodological guidelines and contribute to a shared vision of openness. As such, a whole of government Open Government Strategy, besides putting new initiatives in place, makes those policies and initiatives that are already being implemented by public institutions more coherent and stronger by working together under the same coherent (and powerful) narrative and methodological setting.
An OGS ensures efficiency and intra-institutional knowledge sharing
An OGS is a tool to save resources and reduce costs. Government institutions spend time and public resources trying to develop solutions that might already be in place or build on lessons learned by other administrations that have already successfully implemented certain reforms. An OGS helps to intensify efforts to create collaborative solutions to shared problems. A concerted OGS can help public institutions to elaborate a common understanding and shared standards relating to open government, thereby harmonising practices. As such, An OGS can enable the government to achieve outcomes – at a lower cost – that would not be possible to achieve if institutions work in isolation.
An OGS enables collaboration and co-ordination
The main purpose of whole-of-government frameworks is to enable different government entities to pursue joint objectives in a co-ordinated manner. The Australian government defines whole-of-government as “public service agencies working across portfolio boundaries to achieve a shared goal and an integrated government response to particular issues (…)”. An OGS that includes clearly assigned responsibilities to the identified goals and objectives can be a valuable co-ordination and collaboration instrument.
An OGS acts as a tool for mainstreaming
The design and implementation of an OGS gives visibility to the concept of open government and puts open government reforms on all public institutions’ agendas. An OGS, hence, mainstreams an openness culture by spreading and implementing the values and principles of open government across the entire administrations and all policy areas. In addition, it communicates to civil servants, citizens and stakeholders that the government embraces a new understanding of the way the state is run. As such, An OGS creates a powerful, compelling and coherent narrative that inspires policymakers to champion open government reforms in their own areas of work. Lastly, an OGS can help civil servants and citizens to better understand the added value and concrete output of open government by applying it to the policy area of their interest and expertise.
An OGS is a formidable governance tool
An OGS allows for an effective management of a country’s open government agenda. The development of an OGS is usually led by a high-level official (e.g. Minister, Secretary General, senior appointee, inter-ministerial delegate, etc.) and accompanied by concrete efforts to create institutional and governance mechanisms (e.g. inter-ministerial committees; monitor and evaluate mechanisms, training modules, HR performance evaluations; budget allocations, etc.). High-level commitment of a politician can also be a tool to foster the impact of the strategy (as per the resources, mobilisation power and symbolism). In addition, the adoption of an OGS empowers a person or office that will present the open government agenda to the wider public, monitor the follow up, and be the point of contact for the press and the wider public.
An OGS functions as a tool for public accountability
An OGS commits the government to certain key reforms and creates a pressure for institutions to deliver. At the same time, a strategy that commits the government to concrete, ambitious but feasible outcomes can be a message to the citizens emphasising that this is a serious endeavour. The identification of milestones and indicators allows stakeholders to monitor the government’s implementation efforts and analyse their compliance with the strategy’s objective. Hence, the strategy and the commitments made in it are a tool for stakeholders to hold the government to account and avoid “open washing”. In addition, civil society can channel its demands through the strategy.
An OGS can give long-term sustainability to the open government agenda
The lack of a national coherent strategy can undermine the long-term sustainability of open government reforms and protects it from government instability. If designed for the long term, an OGS can give open government a non-political value and anchor the implementation of open government principles in internal action plans that can continue without high-level political support.
Source: OECD (2020[5]), Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholders’ participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy, Internal paper presented to the Working Party on Open Government, GOV/PGC/OG(2020)4/REV1.
What kind of policy instrument is an Open Government Strategy in the Canadian context?
Each OECD Member country has its own policy-making tradition. Table 1.2 provides an overview of the policy hierarchy applied by the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada (TBS) to its own policy instruments. Within TBS, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is the home for the Open Government Office (OGO).
The mandate for the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is to provide strategic direction and leadership in the pursuit of excellence in information management, information technology, security, privacy and access to information across the Government of Canada. To facilitate this work, the OCIO provides support and guidance on capacity building and project management and oversight. To deliver this mandate, the OCIO sets out enterprise digital transformation objectives and priorities through strategic planning and governance activities including, setting the strategic operational and policy direction for the Government of Canada for open government.
The Policy on Service and Digital (Government of Canada, 2020[6]) and the Directive on Open Government (Government of Canada, 2014[7]) can be used to prescribe requirements and responsibilities of the OGS for TBS and departments across the government. The OGS is more appropriately seen as a guiding vision to set strategic operational direction for the Government of Canada, in a manner similar to the GC Digital Operations Strategic Plan (Government of Canada, n.d.[8]) or the Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council: A Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service (Privy Council Office, 2018[9]).
Open Government Strategies can take different forms, as countries have different traditions when it comes to the drafting of policies and use different terminologies. This section presents elements that are common to most policy documents and most existing Open Government Strategies and that – in an ideal case – would also be part of Canada’s Open Government Strategy. The elements presented in this section are based on the OECD-paper Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholders’ participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy (OECD, 2020[5]).
Source: OECD (2020[5]), Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholders’ participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy, Internal paper presented to the Working Party on Open Government, GOV/PGC/OG(2020)4/REV1.
Assess the current situation and look ahead
Before moving forward, it is essential to look back and analyse past experiences. Any Open Government Strategy should therefore be based on a thorough assessment that maps efforts to date, discusses achievements and highlights challenges ahead. This initial and fundamental step provides both the government and stakeholders with the necessary information and data to make better decisions. The assessment should analyse what kind of initiatives to foster transparency, accountability, integrity and stakeholders’ participation the government has already implemented. Whenever possible, this kind of assessment should also include forecasting and the analysis of data and evidence of impact of previous open government reform efforts.
Results from the OECD fact-finding mission confirmed that the government of Canada already has a good understanding of its main achievements and the challenges laying ahead. The Evaluation of the Open Government Program (hereafter “the Evaluation”) prepared by the TBS Internal Audit and Evaluation Bureau for the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee (Government of Canada, 2021[2]), the reports prepared by the OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism as well as the present OECD Open Government Scan provide an excellent basis.
Source: OECD (OECD, 2020[5]), Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholders’ participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy, Internal paper presented to the Working Party on Open Government, GOV/PGC/OG(2020)4/REV1.
Identify a vision
An Open Government Strategy is the key tool to set a vision for a country’s open government agenda. A vision constitutes a clear statement of what the government and stakeholders aim to achieve through the implementation of open government reforms (OECD, 2020[5]). It constitutes a shared long-term expectation of outcomes and of how these outcomes can contribute to broader governmental and societal objectives. As such, the vision guides the process to design objectives and of initiatives that build the substantive part of the OGS. The clearer the vision, the more compelling it will be.
The vision should be ambitious, bold and inspiring and realizable in a realistic time horizon at the same time. While the vision can be created within the government, involving other stakeholders in its definition can ensure that it is widely shared and clearly linked with broader government objectives and priorities. When identifying the vision for its OGS, Canada could also reflect on the underlying values that frame the Strategy.
As part of the ongoing collaboration between Canada and the OECD, a visioning exercise was organised in early 2021 (Box 1.3).
As part of the collaboration between the government of Canada and the OECD Secretariat, the OECD organized a visioning exercise divided into two online workshops. This exercise was organized following three main parts:
Part 1: Looking ahead - The vision for open government in Canada
Part 2: The objectives – How can the Open Government Strategy help achieve the vision?
Part 3: Next steps – The process for designing Canada’s Open Government Strategy
The objectives of this visioning exercise were:
1. For the OECD Secretariat to present the concept, main findings and good practices to develop an Open Government Strategy, based on the Paper “Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholders' participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy”.
2. For the Government of Canada to reflect, brainstorm and collectively think about the vision for open government, the objectives of the Strategy and the main stages of the process.
Source: Author’s own elaboration.
Establish priorities
Open government, as defined by the OECD, is a wide field that touches upon the very functioning of every government institution. Achieving a change towards an open government culture takes time and requires sustained long-term effort and commitment. Not all objectives can be pursued and not all initiatives can be implemented at once, as government resources and capacities are limited.
It will therefore be of key importance for Canada to be selective and set clear priorities from the very beginning (which means making compromises). For example, reforms in certain key open government areas (e.g. citizen participation) may over time require the adaptation of new laws and regulations or the creation of new institutions which can be a time-consuming process.
Whenever possible, priorities should be established jointly with all relevant stakeholders (both from within government and from civil society). Canada could consider using the existing co-ordination spaces (see Table 2.2) to discuss priorities with all interested stakeholders. Once established, priorities should then be communicated to the wider public through the OGS to manage expectations.
Define objectives
The Strategy’s objectives translate the vision into targets. Objectives included in the OGS should be:
Setting clear objectives is a key step to enable monitoring, evaluation and learning. Canada could consider mixing whole-of-government objectives (i.e. those that aim at changing the culture of government in general) with more specific objectives (e.g. those that aim to foster change in a specific sector / policy area). In the process of defining strategic objectives, stakeholder participation is fundamental to help the government prioritize and make choices. Objectives included in the OGS should contribute to and be clearly linked with broader government objectives and priorities.
Include a narrative
Most policy documents include a narrative in their first sections. The narrative links the document with the country’s broader policy agenda and government priorities. This fundamental part of a public policy should be written in easily understandable language as it sets the tone and provides public institutions and external stakeholders with a common understanding of why this strategy has been developed.
In Canada, the narrative of the OGS could be based on the assessment that is suggested below (see The Strategy of the Strategy: Creating the context for an Open Government Strategy in Canada) in order to clearly outline the necessity of the proposed Open Government Strategy. The narrative may also take the form of a foreword signed by the Prime Minister / the President of Treasury Board.
Include key definitions
Different stakeholders have different understandings of what constitutes open government. In order to clarify expectations and foster coherent implementation, the OGS therefore needs to include definitions of key concepts, such as open government and open state, as well as of key principles, including transparency, accountability, integrity, and stakeholders’ participation. Clearly outlined definitions can:
Provide guidance to policy-makers and ensure that all government institutions share a similar understanding.
Inform stakeholders about the essential elements of open government, including the extent and limitations of key concepts.
Facilitate a robust analysis of the impact of open government initiatives across different institutions and levels of government.
Definitions to be included can be co-created with stakeholders (see section The OGS should be built on a broader understanding of the concept of open government.) or be taken from internal government sources or from external sources (such as academia, international organisations, etc.).
Outline governance mechanisms and processes
An Open Government Strategy can be a key tool to promote the creation of governance mechanisms and processes for a country’s open government agenda, including institutional responsibilities (e.g. contact points) and co-ordination mechanisms.
Canada’s OGS could include a dedicated section that explains how the Strategy was designed and how it will be implemented. This may include making reference to new mechanisms, such as the suggested National Open Government Committee and the Open Government Community of Practice, should Canada decide to accept these recommendations.
Include a dedicated section on Monitoring and Evaluation
Canada could also consider establishing provisions for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in the Open Government Strategy itself. The Strategy could, for example, include a specific section dedicated to monitoring, detailing institutional responsibilities, mechanism to be used, frequency of monitoring, and including a template for monitoring reports, etc. Along similar lines, the Strategy could include provisions for undertaking evaluations, including standards, templates, frequency, stakeholder engagement, evaluator profiles and the budget for evaluations.
Canada has a long history of implementing reforms that aim to foster the relationship between government and citizens and the country is today widely seen as a leader in the open government community. According to the Evaluation that was prepared by the TBS Internal Audit and Evaluation Bureau for the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee (Government of Canada, 2021[2]) certain reforms at the federal level of government have “increased public access to government data and information” and “strengthened partnerships with civil society, Indigenous groups and other governments”, among other benefits. Among these reforms are the creation of the open data and open information portal (www.open.canada.ca) and the development of the Open Government Guidebook (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 2018[11]) that have been implemented by the Open Government Office.
Despite the important progress of the past decade, open government in Canada still faces a number of challenges that need to be addressed in order for the open government agenda to develop its full potential. The planned Open Government Strategy should build on the achievements so far while aiming to address (some of) the challenges that have been identified. This section introduces key contextual considerations that will frame the recommendations on Canada’s Open Government Strategy that are provided in chapter 2.
Strengths and achievements of Canada’s open government agenda
Canada compares well in different indicators measuring the openness of government and public governance more generally. For example, in the 2020 Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International Canada scores 11th out of 179 countries. In the 2019 OECD Open, Useful and Re-usable Data Index (OURData) Canada has the 5th highest score (0.73) among the 32 ranked countries (OECD, 2020[12]). In the 2021 OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance Canada also scores comparatively well when it comes to stakeholder engagement in developing both primary laws and subordinate regulations, figuring well above the OECD-average in both sub-dimensions (OECD, 2021[13]). Similarly, in the open government dimension of the 2020 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, Canada is ranked 11th out of 139 countries. In particular, Canada comes in as 5th globally (out of 139 countries) when it comes to publicised laws and government data (World Justice Project, 2021[14]). Lastly, the Government Transparency Index developed by the European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building ranks Canada 11th out of 128 countries when it comes to the practice of transparency (European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building, 2021[15]).
Canada has made impressive efforts to create governance frameworks and mechanisms for its open government agenda. For example, Canada’s adopted one of the world’s first Directive on Open Government (Government of Canada, 2014[7]) in 2014 and established numerous mechanisms to co-ordinate its open government agenda (e.g. bodies exist at technical level, at Director-General level and with provinces and territories). TBS has led the development of numerous tools (guidebooks, trainings, etc.) to support public institutions in implementing open government reforms.
Canada has a highly developed open data and open information agenda. As also visible from the different measurements and indicators presented above, Canada is a global champion in the fields of open data and open information and many of the initiatives that have been designed by the government, such as the wider open data ecosystem and the Open Government Portal, stand out as global good practices.
Canada is well integrated into the international open government community and globally recognised as a leader in different areas of open government. In addition to being an active participant of the OECD Working Party on Open Government, Canada is currently a key member of various coalitions in the field, including the Open Government Partnership, the Open Contracting Partnership and the Community of Democracies. Canada was co-chair of the Steering Committee of the OGP in 2018-2019 and hosted a successful Global Summit of the OGP in Ottawa in 2019. Reflecting the high levels of maturity of the open data / open information agenda, Canada has also been a leader in the Open Data Charter initiative. As co-anchor of the OGP Open Data Working Group, the Canadian government, along with a number of other governments and civil society organizations, led the effort to develop and launch the international Open Data Charter in 2015 (Government of Canada, 2021[16]).
The Treasury Board Secretariat has a strong standing within the government of Canada when it comes to open government. Interviews conducted for this Scan showed that public institutions and public officials from all levels of government recognise the expertise that the Open Government Office in TBS has on open government. Interviewees praised TBS for providing the necessary policies and infrastructure to departments’ and agencies’ open data and open information agendas and highlighted the usefulness of the tools that have been put at their disposal. The institutional location of the Open Government Office within one of the main centre-of-government institutions has considerably facilitated co-ordination and collaboration.
Canada leads a strong and stable OGP-process. Canada started embarking upon a dedicated open government agenda in 2011 when it joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The OGP-process is seen by many as an example of effective and efficient co-operation across institutional boundaries and TBS’ role in it was widely praised by interviewees.
Canada has deliberately taken a “start-up approach” to open government which has delivered positive results. From the beginning of its open government journey, the work of the Open Government Office at TBS has put an important focus on experimentation and testing of new approaches, recognising that the achievement of an open government culture requires a cultural change in government and the wider society. Results from the OECD fact-finding mission show that this hands-on approach to open government is highly valued by public officials across the wider federal government but it has sometimes come at the detriment of a more “classical” policy-approach.
Open government initiatives, while not always labelled as such, can be found at all levels of government. Open government initiatives, as defined by the OECD are widely spread in Canada and implemented by public institutions at all levels of government. For example, Canada has a strong public consultation culture and is already experimenting with representative deliberative processes (e.g. the current Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression). Elements of an open government culture are in fact present in all public institutions in Canada.
Areas of opportunity of Canada’s open government agenda
There is a narrow understanding of the full potential of the concept of open government across the federal government. Interviews conducted for this Scan confirmed that - while large parts of the Canadian public sector are aware of the meaning of the term open government - many public officials confuse the concept with that of open data and mostly associate openness with being transparent (in terms of providing information and data to citizens). Wider discussions surrounding the power of open government to reinforce democracy, and in particular on the role of participatory practices, are mostly absent from the mainstream open government discourse.
The open government agenda is fragmented and focused on open data and open information, leaving out other important dimensions of open government. As a consequence of the previous point, the wider citizen and stakeholder participation file is not yet fully integrated into the open government agenda. Citizen and stakeholder participation (“public engagement” in the Canadian understanding) is mostly seen as a separate policy agenda that is outside of the realm of open government and of the mandate of the Open Government Office in TBS. Similarly, the wider accountability / responsiveness agenda is currently detached from the open government agenda led by TBS. For example, managing and strengthening the government’s wider system of complaint redress mechanisms does not form part of Canada’s current open government agenda (nor the Open Government Office’s mandate). In addition, as in many OECD countries, the wider integrity / anti-corruption agenda is disconnected from the open government discourse3. While a fragmentation of the open government agenda into different pieces is common in OECD countries, more and more countries have recently taken steps to integrate their public policy agendas on transparency, integrity, accountability and citizen/stakeholder participation under the concept of open government.
In order to support its current competences, the Open Government Office in TBS has developed most of its expertise in the open data / open information field and focuses mainly on providing the necessary policies and infrastructure for departments’ and agencies’ open data and open information agendas. Accordingly, TBS is perceived by public officials as an infrastructure provider (e.g. manager of the open government portal, etc.).
While Canada’s open information and open data agendas are already well-developed, the government needs to continue to innovate in order to maintain its leadership role in the wider transparency field. This may involve further developing the Open Government Portal and pushing the proactive disclosure agenda across the whole federal government. Canada could also explore emerging trends in the transparency field such as targeted transparency initiatives4, algorithmic transparency, building alliances across the open data ecosystem to publish public interest information and data, and developing a governance framework that supports the mainstream adoption of an open by default culture.
Open government is sometimes seen as a “nice to have” or as a (technical) burden by Canadian public officials. According to information collected during interviews conducted for this Scan, open government (the way it is currently framed by TBS) is often seen as an overhead or add-on consideration that public officials do not consider core to achieving their mandates. The focus of the open government agenda on open data / open information and the fact that open government is situated under the digital government agenda, has resulted in public officials seeing it as a technical / start-up agenda linked with concepts such as “open by default”, as well as considerations surrounding interoperability and codes, rather than a transformative new culture of governance.
Canada’s open government ecosystem is currently mostly limited to stakeholders in the Ottawa area that are actively contributing to the open data / open information agenda. TBS has managed to build strong links with the open data community in the capital city. However, non-public stakeholders that are working on other pillars of open government but that are not involved in the OGP-process are not yet fully involved in the open government agenda. This is for example the case for the community working on representative deliberative processes which is detached from open government considerations.
Canada has a strong compliance culture when it comes to open government. Compliance is of fundamental importance for the continuity of public services and it ensures that public officials act according to commonly established standards. However, some areas of open government need innovation and the breaking down of existing barriers. In that regard, an overly rigid compliance culture can be an obstacle to their implementation. For example, in interviews different public officials stressed that they feared going beyond their mandate or even breaking the law when engaging stakeholders at one’s own initiative.
High level of rotations within the public sector impacts the implementation of open government policies. Canada’s federal public administration is highly institutionalised and characterised by high levels of stability. Many staffers are hired at a junior position and slowly make their way up through the hierarchy, remaining federal public employees throughout their career. Job changes within the federal government (i.e. from one department to another) are however very common. Interviews conducted by the OECD during the fact-finding mission revealed that these job changes have an impact on the work conducted by the open government team and the open government agenda at large.
References
[15] European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building (2021), Government Transparency Index, https://www.againstcorruption.eu/ercas-projects/transparencyindex/.
[16] Government of Canada (2021), Answers to the background questionnaire for the OECD Open Government Scan of Canada.
[2] Government of Canada (2021), Evaluation of the Open Government Program, https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/corporate/reports/evaluation-open-government-program.html.
[6] Government of Canada (2020), Policy on Service and Digital, https://www.tbs-sct.canada.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=32603.
[7] Government of Canada (2014), Directive on Open Government, https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=28108.
[10] Government of Canada (2008), Foundation Framework for Treasury Board Policies, https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=13616.
[8] Government of Canada (n.d.), Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2021-2024, https://www.canada.ca/en/government/system/digital-government/government-canada-digital-operations-strategic-plans/digital-operations-strategic-plan-2021-2024.html.
[3] OECD (2021), 2020 OECD Survey on Open Government.
[13] OECD (2021), Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance, https://qdd.oecd.org/subject.aspx?Subject=GOV_REG.
[4] OECD (2020), A Roadmap for Assessing the Impact of Open Government Reform, WPOG Working Paper, GOVPGCOG20205.
[12] OECD (2020), OECD Open, Useful and Re-usable data (OURdata) Index: 2019, https://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/policy-paper-ourdata-index-2019.htm.
[5] OECD (2020), Taking an integrated approach to the promotion of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholders’ participation: Towards an Open Government Strategy, Working Party on Open Government, GOV/PGC/OG(2020)4/REV1.
[1] OECD (2017), Recommendation of the Council on Open Government, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0438.
[9] Privy Council Office (2018), Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council : a data strategy roadmap for the federal public service, https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.864666/publication.html.
[11] Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (2018), Open Government Guidebook, https://open.canada.ca/ckan/en/dataset/9eaa6d0e-4b8c-5241-acf7-c6885294b8c1.
[14] World Justice Project (2021), Rule of Law Index, https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/country/Canada.
Notes
← 1. The following stakeholders were interviewed for this Scan: Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada Secretariat; Privy Council Office; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Public Service Commission; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Canada School of Public Service and Government; Employment and Social Development Canada; People Management and Community Engagement (TBS); GC InfoBase; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada; Indigenous Services Canada; Canadian Heritage; Government of Ontario; Government of Quebec; Multi-stakeholder Forum; Transparency International Canada; OGP Independent Research Mechanism; Open North; Academics
← 2. Inputs refer to the preconditions enabling open government reforms to happen while processes refer to those processes that support the adoption and implementation of open government principles across government and that foster their application
← 3. In many countries, the promotion of open government and public sector integrity are implemented as separate policy agendas, both with their own communities, policy documents, governance mechanisms, etc. Nevertheless, certain practices that are commonly associated with the promotion of public sector integrity, such as the publishing of asset declarations or the creation of lobbying registers, have found their way into countries’ open government agenda. This Scan acknowledges that the promotion of public sector integrity is its own-standing agenda in Canada and argues in favour of co-ordination, rather than integration of the two agendas.
← 4. Targeted transparency is defined as “the use of publicly required disclosure of specific information in a standardized format to achieve a clear public policy purpose”. This transparency mechanism uses disclosure as a means to attain or improve other policy objectives, for example, for decreasing violence among youth or preventing overweight.