Infrastructure Canada: Open Government Implementation Plan

Table of Contents

• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Approvals
• 3. Purpose
• 4. Context
• 5. Outcomes
• 6. Governance Structures and Decision Processes
  • 6.1 Roles and Responsibilities – Deputy Head and Information Management Senior Official
  • 6.2 Roles and Responsibilities – Key Stakeholders
  • 6.3 Communication, Awareness, and Engagement
• 7. Open Government Implementation Plan
  • Planning Table A: Directive on Open Government Requirements
• Annex A – Performance Measures
  • Implementation Planning
  • Maximizing the Removal of Access Restrictions
• Annex B – Acronyms
• Annex C – Open Government Background
• Annex D – Open Data Portal – Infrastructure Canada

Table

• Table 1 – Outcomes Table

Figures

• Figure 1 – INFC Governance for OG Implementation Plan and Data/Information Releases
• Figure 2 – Canada’s Action Plan 2.0 on Open Government 2014-16

1. Executive Summary

Infrastructure Canada is pleased to present Infrastructure Canada’s Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) 2015-2016. This document presents the department’s plan to achieve transparent and accountable programs and services promoting open data and information and engaging the Canadian public through open government.

Canada has a longstanding commitment to openness and accountability as a cornerstone of a strong, modern democracy. From the passing of access to information legislation over 30 years ago to current open government and proactive disclosure activities, the Government of Canada has worked to ensure transparency on federal operations to enable Canadians to hold their government accountable. The commitments included in Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2014-16 will further progress on the delivery of transparent and accountable programs and services focused on the needs of Canadians.

The proactive release of data and information is the starting point for all other open government activity. Accordingly, the Government of Canada has firmly established an "open by default" position in its mandatory policy framework by issuing the Directive on Open Government.

Infrastructure Canada is a key funding partner, working with provinces, territories, municipalities, the private sector and non-profit organizations, along with other federal departments and agencies to help build and revitalize the infrastructure Canadians need and use every day. The department leads federal efforts to ensure that Canadians benefit from world-class, modern public infrastructure.

Infrastructure Canada’s main priorities are establishing open government governance structures and decision processes that support open government, including the approval process for the release of open data and open information resources; a summary of activities to meet the open government requirements; and outcomes providing positive impacts for Canadians.

Infrastructure Canada will publish more program data and information through the Open Government and continue to focus on ensuring program data and information is consistent and timely.

Infrastructure Canada will develop and update on an annual basis the department’s Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) to outline departmental direction, strategies, and initiatives undertaken to meet the requirements of this directive by March 31^st, 2020. In addition, the department will post their implementation plan to a Government of Canada website designated by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

2. Approvals

3. Purpose

This document describesInfrastructure Canada’s plan to complete activities and deliverables aligned to the requirements of the Directive on Open Government, in order to achieve full compliance by the March 31^st 2020 implementation deadline.

The objective of the Directive is to maximize the release of government information and data of business value to support transparency, accountability, citizen engagement, and socio-economic benefits through reuse, subject to applicable restrictions associated with privacy, confidentiality, and security (Directive on Open Government, Section 5.1).

The expected results of the Directive on Open Government (Section 5.2) are that Canadians are able to find and use Government of Canada information and data:

• to support accountability;
• to facilitate value-added analysis;
• to drive socio-economic benefits through reuse; and,
• to support meaningful engagement with their government.

INFC reviewed the 12 commitments in the Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2014-16  ^{See footnote 1} and will focus on one commitment – the foundation commitment of Open Government Directive. INFC has not been invited to lead or participate in the other 11 commitments however expects to incorporate resulting deliverables within its plans, as applicable.

4. Context

5. Outcomes

Infrastructure Canada’s commitment to open government is founded on the strong history of transparency and accountability demonstrated by INFC from the moment the department was established.

INFC is currently providing Completed Access to Information Requests and Proactive Disclosure reports (e.g. Contracts over $10K, audits, and evaluations) in support of GC transparency.

The Directive on Open Government supports the Policy on Information Management by promoting information management practices which enable the proactive and ongoing release of government information. This directive is to be read in conjunction with the Directive on Recordkeeping.

INFC’s strong information management and recordkeeping (RK) practices and processes are the cornerstone of the department’s open government activities. These RK practices increase the department’s efficiency, reduce costs, improve service delivery, safeguard personal, classified and confidential information, and ensure the availability of high-quality, authoritative information.

This OGIP, which is to be updated annually, sets out INFC’s commitment for full compliance with the Directive on Open Government - by March, 2020 .

To further demonstrate INFC’s commitment to Open Government:

• INFC has created and populated its Data/Information Repositories Inventory for structured and unstructured data/information. INFC will align their inventory with the TBS Data Inventory template;
• INFC has released 13 datasets (see Annex D – Open Data Portal – Infrastructure Canada) to the GC Open Data Portal in early 2014. These datasets are being updated by INFC.

INFC will publish more INFC data and information through the Open Government and continue to focus on ensuring INFC data and information is consistent and timely.

The following table describes the outcomes that INFC is seeking to achieve through Open Government:

6. Governance Structures and Decision Processes

The following sub-sections describe the governance structures and decision processes that support open government and how those responsibilities are delegated and fulfilled within INFC.

Figure 1 - INFC Governance for OG Implementation Plan and Data/Information Releases - Text version

INFC Governance:

INFC Data Owners (image of 3 people sitting at a table with documents) consult with the Open Government Implementation Plan Working Group:

• Identify data and information
• Propose release schedules

Open Government Implementation Plan Working Group is based on commitments and requirements: Action Plan Foundation Commitment (image of the action plan), MAF requirements (image of the MAF framework), Directive of Open Government.

Open Government Implementation Plan Working Group to System, Data, Information Management Working Group:

• OG Implementation Plan: develop, update and endorse OGIP for approval.
• OG Data/Information Releases: establish prioritization criteria to consider datasets for scheduled publishing (e.g. planning criteria), establish publish decision criteria, recommend data and information release based on prioritization and publish criteria.

System, Data, Information Management Working Group to Horizontal Implementation Committee:

• OG Implementation Plan: endorse OGIP for approval.
• OG Data/Information Releases: confirm release criteria and readiness and evolve when necessary, endorse data and information for release.

Horizontal Implementation Committee to Horizontal Management Committee (INFC Open Government Implementation Plan OGIP):

• OG Implementation Plan: endorse OGIP for approval.
• OG Data/Information Releases: confirm release criteria and evolve when necessary, recommend data and information for release.

Horizontal Management Committee to Departmental Management Committee:

• OG Implementation Plan: recommend OGIP for approval.
• OG Data/Information Releases: inform of data and information for release.

OG Implementation Plan:

• IMSO approves OGIP (image of a person)
• Deputy Head approves OGIP (image of a person)

OG Data/Information Releases:

• IMSO approves data and information release (image of a person)
• Deputy Head informed of data and information release (image of a person)

7. Open Government Implementation Plan

Key Planning Assumptions

• Dates are aligned based on OGIP update requirements rather than by fiscal year.
• It is expected that INFC Open Data and Information Guidelines and Standards will have several iterations as more information becomes available e.g. additional TBS standards and guidelines. This will not preclude the release of data and information resources.
• Time associated with the development of formatted datasets for release has not been considered in this plan.

Annex A – Performance Measures

Beginning in Year 2 ( October 2016 ) ^{See footnote 3}, institutions must perform annual updates to their Open Government Implementation Plans (OGIPs) by submitting values against pre-defined performance measures. These measures will gauge the institution’s performance as it relates to three key initiatives: implementation planning, establishing and maintaining comprehensive inventories of data and information resources of business value, and maximizing the removal of access restrictions on departmental information resources of enduring value prior to transfer to Library and Archives Canada (LAC). The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) will leverage other data gathering activities, where possible, to pre-populate the results for some of the measures.

Annex B – Acronyms

OGIP

Open Government Implementation Plan

OG

Open Government

INFC

Infrastructure Canada

GC

Government of Canada

TBS

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

LAC

Library and Archives Canada

PAA

Program Alignment Architecture

NBSLC

New Bridge for the St. Lawrence Corridor Project

RK

Recordkeeping

DMC

Departmental Management Committee

HMC

Horizontal Management Committee

HIC

Horizontal Implementation Committee

SDIMWG

Systems, Data and Information Management Working Group

IM

Information Management

IT

Information Technology

IMIT

Information Management and Information Technology

Annex C – Open Government Background

“As part of the global open government movement, governments seek to broaden access to data and information, ensure transparency and accountability, and strengthen citizen engagement in the activities of government and in the democratic process. Canada has a longstanding commitment to openness and accountability as a cornerstone of a strong, modern democracy. From the passing of access to information legislation over 30 years ago to current open government and proactive disclosure activities, the Government of Canada has worked to ensure transparency on federal operations to enable Canadians to hold their government accountable.

Canada joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in April 2012 , and remains committed to the principles of the OGP’s Open Government Declaration. Canada’s membership in the OGP provides key opportunities to advance our open government agenda, share and learn from international best practices, and collaborate with our OGP colleagues on solutions that benefit citizens globally. As co-chair of the OGP’s Open Data Working Group, Canada works with governments and civil society organizations on defining shared principles for open data, including the use of common standards that will help align open data services offered around the world.

International leadership on open government is a priority for the Government of Canada. In June 2013 , Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the other G8 leaders adopted the G8 Open Data Charter, which established open data principles for all member countries, and called for specific commitments to release core public sector data. The Sunlight Foundation, a key non-profit organization that advocates for open government globally, has ranked Canada’s plan for implementing the G8 Open Data Charter highest among G8 countries.

In its Canada’s Action Plan 2.0 on Open Government 2014-16 (“the Action Plan”), Canada is pledging to expand its open government activities to include a wide-ranging set of initiatives on open information and open dialogue, in addition to its ground breaking work on open data. These activities will help set the tone for open government in Canada moving forward”. ^{See footnote 4}

Figure 2 - Canada’s Action Plan 2.0 on Open Government 2014-16 - Text version

Circle 1 (in the middle): Open Government Directive

Circle 2 (around circle 1) divided in 3 sections: Open Info, Open Dialogue and Open Data.

Open Info:

• Open Science
• Mandatory Reporting on Extractives
• Open Contracting (PWGSC co-leads with TBS)
• Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures
• Digital Literacy
• Open Information Core Commitment

Open Data:

• Open Data Canada
• Canadian Open Data Exchange
• Open Data for Development
• Open Data Core Commitment

Open Dialogue:

• Consulting Canadians

Circle 3 (around circle 2): Availability of Information, New technologies, Citizen Participation and Professional Integrity.

The Action Plan’s foundation commitment is the Open Government Directive being led by Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). The deliverables for this commitment are:

• “Issue a new Directive on Open Government to require federal departments and agencies to maximize the release of eligible government data and information of business value subject to applicable restrictions related to privacy, confidentiality, and security.
• Require federal departments and agencies to publish open government implementation plans that describe planned activities to meet the requirements of the directive, including the following:
  • Establishing and maintaining inventories of data and information holdings;
  • Prioritizing the publication of data and information based on public demand;
  • Publishing data and information in accessible and open formats on federal open government websites under an open and unrestrictive licence; and
  • Reporting annually on progress made.
• Establish tools and guidance for the publication of departmental data inventories, subject to privacy, security and confidentiality requirements”. ^{See footnote 4}

TBS published the Directive on Open Government with the effective date of October 9, 2014 . The OGIP describes Infrastructure Canada’s plan to complete activities and deliverables aligned to the requirements of the Directive in order to achieve full compliance by the March 31^st 2020 implementation deadline starting in this OGIP 2015-2016. The OGIP will be updated annually in October (Directive on Open Government, Appendix C).

The objective of the Directive is to maximize the release of government information and data of business value to support transparency, accountability, citizen engagement, and socio-economic benefits through reuse, subject to applicable restrictions associated with privacy, confidentiality, and security (Directive on Open Government, Section 5.1).

The expected results state that Canadians are able to find and use Government of Canada information and data:

• to support accountability;
• to facilitate value-added analysis;
• to drive socio-economic benefits through reuse; and,

• to support meaningful engagement with their government.

  (Directive on Open Government, Section 5.2)

Departments must maximize the release of open data and open information by ensuring that all data and information resources specified below are considered for release.

Annex D – Open Data Portal – Infrastructure Canada

Screenshot of the Open Data Portal - Text version

Infrastructure Canada Datasets:

1. Alberta Infrastructure Projects
2. British Columbia Infrastructure Projects
3. Manitoba Infrastructure Projects
4. New Brunswick Infrastructure Projects
5. Newfoundland and Labrador Infrastructure Projects
6. Northwest Territories Infrastructure Projects
7. Nova Scotia Infrastructure Projects
8. Nunavut Infrastructure Projects
9. Ontario Infrastructure Projects
10. Prince Edward Island Infrastructure Projects
11. Quebec Infrastructure Projects
12. Saskatchewan Infrastructure Projects
13. Yukon Infrastructure Projects

Open Data Portal - extracted September 3, 2015 (Order by – Name Ascending)