Executive Summary
Open government is based on the idea that the public should be able to see, understand, contribute to, monitor, and evaluate public decisions and actions. 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”, open government constitutes a change of paradigm for governments, public administrations, civil servants, citizens, and public policy stakeholders in general. The implementation of open government reforms can help countries address complex policy challenges and improve policy efficiency, effectiveness and compliance. Over time, it can reinforce democracy, by improving inclusive and responsive policymaking and service design and delivery, and, hence, strengthen citizen trust in public institutions and governments.
Canada has a long history of implementing reforms that seek to strengthen the relationship between government and citizens. Today, the country is widely seen as a leader in the global open government community and stands out for its highly developed open data and open information agenda. Accordingly, Canada compares well in various indicators measuring the openness of government. For example, it ranked first globally in the most recent Open Data Barometer and fifth in the OECD OURdata index. Moreover, successive Canadian administrations have shown high levels of political support for open government. Thanks to a highly effective, hands-on approach to open government by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), the main co-ordinating institution of Canada’s open government agenda, open government initiatives (while not always labelled as such) can today be found in all federal government ministries and departments and at all levels of government.
Building on its achievements, Canada is now working to increase the impact of the open government agenda on citizens’ trust in public institutions and, ultimately, strengthen democracy. Notably, Canada is seeking to broaden and extend the understanding of open government across the federal government, moving from a focus on open data and open information to other important dimensions, such as citizen and stakeholder participation and the protection and promotion of civic space. Moreover, like many other OECD Member countries, Canada is working to identify, quantify and communicate the causal link between the implementation of open government initiatives and their impact on the functioning of the public sector. Finally, the country seeks to complement and bolster its highly effective “start-up approach” to open government with a more “classical” policy approach in order to consolidate Canada’s open government efforts.
To promote a more holistic approach to open government - as in other OECD Member countries such as Colombia, Finland, or Italy - Canada has decided to develop its first umbrella policy framework for open government at the federal level. The design of an open government strategy is an ambitious undertaking that needs to be adapted to the specific context of each country and that may require far-reaching reforms. The assessment presented in this Scan is based on the premise that Canada plans to develop an open government strategy that focuses on creating the necessary governance arrangements and mechanisms to align all strategies and initiatives that are linked to the promotion of openness and bring them together under a coherent narrative. The policy recommendations provided in this Scan build on Canada’s achievements and aim to support the government in building a wider ecosystem that can ensure sustainability and continuity of reform efforts in the medium and long term.
Ground the open government strategy in a broad understanding of the concept of open government, by including elements related to the promotion of transparency, accountability, citizen and stakeholder participation, and the protection of civic space.
Couple the design of the strategy with a review of Canada’s Directive on Open Government.
Ensure that the strategy complements and strengthens existing policy frameworks, including the National Action Plan designed as part of the country’s participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Policy on Service and Digital.
Empower the Open Government Office of the Treasury Board Secretariat, including by reviewing the positioning of the open government portfolio with a view to elevating it.
Give the leadership of the citizen and stakeholder participation portfolio to the Treasury Board Secretariat, as part of its role in co-ordinating Canada’s new open government strategy.
Ensure the take-up of the open government strategy across government, including by updating the mandates of Departmental Open Government Coordinators.
Build a network of civil society stakeholders with a broader range of interests and expertise to match and support the wider focus of the open government strategy and play a key role in its implementation.
Couple the development of the strategy with the design of an open government maturity model based on a clear theory of change, indicators, and benchmarks.
Create an integrated system to monitor the strategy and its implementation and make results available on the Open Government Portal to allow public and non-public stakeholders to track progress on a constant basis.
Build the necessary skills for the successful operationalisation of the open government strategy, including by designing an (online) open government toolkit and by creating an online course on the open government strategy.
Link the implementation of the open government strategy with ministers’ mandate letters.
Use the strategy to support existing open government agendas at the subnational level, including by considering the inclusion of a dedicated section on open government at the subnational level in the strategy.