Open and transparent government leads to better government for all Canadians.
As a government, we’ve been acting on this principle from the get-go. Back in November 2015, the Prime Minister made public the mandate letter commitments of each minister. This was a first. Now we’re reporting on our progress against these commitments with the launch of the new Mandate Tracker at Canada.ca/results.
Our objective is the best possible service for Canadians in the most cost-effective way, and this new online tool helps Canadians and parliamentarians better monitor the planning, spending and tracking of public funds.
This tracker takes the reporting of government information to the next level. It provides reliable information on those programs and services being delivered now, those on track to being delivered, and, in some cases, those no longer being delivered. It allows you to filter commitments by status and by priority, putting our progress at your fingertips in seconds!
Last week, we also tabled the new format for the annual Departmental Results Reports. It tracks departments’ program achievements against measurable indicators that link to InfoBase, an online portal that allows Canadians to see for themselves the numbers behind the results.
Easy-to-consume information
Canadians have become used to getting information on various devices. We understand that online information on government performance should be easy to find.
We’ve seen this shift coming. Government results have been available for years, but not at the speed that Canada’s digital citizenry rightfully expects. And not presented in an easy format that delivers what Canadians want to know in the moment.
We’ve progressed from static annual reports, posted to a website, to tools like InfoBase. For the first time, a single online tool brings together performance results and indicators that were previously scattered across close to 100 annual reports. InfoBase pulls data from annual reports to provide snapshots of what one department or the entire government achieved during a fiscal year.
This is what open government looks like: easy-to-find, one-stop shopping for information that provides insight into how we are progressing on our commitments.
Treasury Board Secretariat results
Within this overall story of government reporting are the results of the Treasury Board Secretariat, for which I am the responsible minister. The Tracker shows how TBS is doing on delivering on its mandate. For example, you can see how TBS has modernized the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada to reflect how the government communicates in the Digital Age. And how we’ve monitored our progress in redesigning services, through achievements such as the Canadian Digital Service.
Help us build transparent government
We still have work to do to make sure government information is open to Canadians by default. But we’re on the right path. Canadians, parliamentarians and businesses are getting unprecedented access to government results, to help keep government accountable and drive better, more cost-effective services for all.
Please share your thoughts on how these new tools perform. An open dialogue with Canadians is the whole point of the exercise.
Note
PCO is hosting the Canada.ca/results website and not open.canada.ca
