Compilation

Bring in users of government information / data to communicate value directly to staff - showcase.

Policy development on github? Would be coold for legislation too! Allows to see changes over time.

We need all government areas to be accountable to the public. Too many offices and not enough listening to people's concerns. Government seems to believe they get a free ride on tax payers money. Cut backs need to be made, less paying themselves first and more looking out for the people.

Governments have lost all common sense, we are experiencing this first hand in dealing with a environment issue. We have been treated very poorly, when if common sense prevailed the situation could have been corrected.

Government has lost all respect for the people and this country is beginning to show the affects.

What ever happened to honesty and dedication, instead of this multiple greedy attitude.

It is important in the world of government programs to have accountable program managers who understand the outcomes they are trying to achieve and the performance measures necessary to effectively evaluate program performance.

This is not the situation and too often the performance measures are ‘whatever makes the Minister look good’. Program evaluation needs to be a strong foundation for democratic societies.

I would like to see a working group discuss developing this senior executive capacity and instantiating a more coherent governance model that brings out the best in politicians, senior bureaucrats, and builds a motivated, innovative work force.

Many of the issues with the ATI process that are mentioned in the media can be explained in whole or in part by the incentives that the current ATIP process and system creates for public servants. No matter how fervent a believer in open government, receiving an ATI request is a painful experience. The amount of labour involved in understanding and clarifying the request, searching records and reviewing the resulting records for release is impossible to overstate. The real effort costs are usually many times higher even than the official reporting forms, at least in my experience, because no one is willing to acknowledge the true time and effort requirements to sort through the equivalent of many thousands of pages of potential documents for each request. Given this process, it's no wonder that records are not kept or not thoroughly searched since this could easily result in no time remaining for any other work.

For any future ATI system to succeed will need buy-in from those implementing the system and that will require the development of a dramatically less labour-intensive process. Are there ways to automate processes? Can employee involvement be limited to review?

Given the dramatically declining cost of computer storage, would it be possible for all email records to be automatically copied without human intervention to a giant database. Any incoming ATI request would be treated by the ATI office as a keyword search similar to google. These requests would automatically search all electronic resources (email, GCdocs, public websites, shared network drives) and manual searches of paper records would only be done when explicitly requested, thus removing the need for the requester to understand government filing systems. This kind of automation would reduce search time and time interpreting requests to zero. It would eliminate the risk of some people doing more or less thorough searches than others. I don't think it would be possible to eliminate the review process, but it should be made possible for this system to identify the originator of a given record and automatically send them the documents to review and to mark up any areas that are suggested not to be released online and to automate as much as possible of the ATIP office review process and to automatically track service standards and deadlines.

Maybe there are less technology-heavy and more administrative means to accomplish the same goals, but unless the labour impact of ATI requests on typical civil servants is addressed in some manner, any increase in ATI numbers will result in less and less timely results and the negative productivity impact of the time spent processing these requests will only increase.

The Government of Canada should adopt a procurement model that recognizes that complex problems or technological needs are rarely fully understood until organizations start experimenting with solutions, and that writing full requirements before engaging with solutions providers is incredibly limiting. This hampers government's ability to bring external expertise into problem-solving.

Guelph's Civic Accelerator is a model to take lessons from: http://open.guelph.ca/active-projects/

"Open Government | Course Introduction http://zunia.org/post/open-government-course-introduction-video … #opengov #opengovernment #OpenGovCan #MOOC #elearning #governance #globaldev"

Synopsis of link destination: Releasing government data involves complex challenges and poses two major concerns. First, many different participants are involved and there are various dependencies between them, and second, the technologies that support open government are fragmented.Link to course introduction video-- this course explores the foundations and objectives of Open Government and examines current developments, including the opening and reuse of governmental data such as the release of data by governments in America and Europe.

"#OpenGovCan What can Canada learn from the USA's #SourceCode policy https://sourcecode.cio.gov/ supporting #opensource to encourage innovation?"

Synopsis of link destination: US comitted to adopting an open source software policy in its second NAP. Emphasis that using and contributing back to open source software can fuel innovation, lower costs, and benefit the public. (1) new custom code whose development is paid for by the Federal Government be made available for reuse across Federal agencies; and (2) a portion of that new custom code be released to the public as Open Source Software (OSS).

.@TBS_Canada Very topical on this day of consultation on #opengovcan eh @pwrd_by_data ? (RT OF: mySidewalk: internet enabled democracy http://goodanthropocenes.net/2016/05/11/mysidewalk-connecting-community-members-to-decision-makers-through-an-online-platform …)

Synopsis of link destination: MySidewalk wants to create the world's first online civic network. City planners and officials use the service to seek dialog among citizens on a broad range of issues-- this process takes advantage of increased acccessibility and the use of computers. Provides tools to analyze information and large amounts of data in a way that is useful to citizens.

"So much for open and transparent gov't! #Libranos are back and better than ever #cdnpoli #OpenGovCan #ourmony"

'Synopsis of link destination: 'Libranos' refers to politicians who are not clear and transparent in their spending. Used on many sites to currently to refer as well to the seven Quebec politicians who have been arrested for corruption and/ or fraudulent activities.

"#opengovcan An Analysis of the Economic Circumstances of Canadian Seniors http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/an_analysis_of_the_economic_circumstances_of_canadian_seniors …"

Synopsis of link destination: Report analyzed the retirement savings of near-retirement Canadians ages 55 to 64 without a workplace pension. Poverty is set to rise unless action is taken to tackle the retirement savings crisis, including boosting the GIS and expanding CPP.

"I'd love to know how @TBS_Canada is motivating other depts (not named @NRCan) ainto adopting the Open Gov culture? #opengovcan"

No link or blogpost to this. Civilian responding to @TBS_Canada post about google hangout with Minister Brison.

"#opengovcan This is good read. @judy_foote PubWorks/Procurement minister: Onus is on us to do this as leaders first"

Synopsis of link destination:

How to change culture in the public service to further an open government strategy? Key points: eagerness to take chances needs to happen in the public service, ministers can set the tone in their departments (top-down approach), aversion to risk is driven by a political landscape that includes an opposition and media waiting to point out a government’s mistakes, culture change will happen when a government changes the way it looks at citizens and government has to design digital services that put people first.

"#American open source #software policy-open #public input zunia.org.post/the-white…#USA #OpenGovCan #ICT4D #ICT #technews #technewstoday"

Synopsis of link destination: The White House committed to adopting a Government-wide Open Source Software policy. White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is releasing a draft policy to improve the way custom-developed Government code is acquired and distributed moving forward.

"PERSONAL INFORMATION REMOVED..data standards &plumbing have in common? http://poweredbydata.org/blog/2016/5/10/data-standards-and-plumbing … #opendat #opengovcan #cofog0132"

Synopsis of link destination:

Submitted a proposal: to implement a new open data standard for federal grants and contributions. "Data standards are like plumbing: they’re not the most exciting thing to talk about, but when they're working properly it makes all the difference.

"US bipartisan #opengov effort http://goo.gl/AFBeyo to make #OpenData-by-Default into a law http://bit.ly/1SbBl4d #opengovcan"

Synopsis of link destination: Bill is referred to as the ‘‘Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act’’ or the ‘‘OPEN Government Data Act’’. Bill is meant to expand the Government’s use and administration of data to facilitate transparency, effective governance, and innovation.

PERSONAL INFORMATION REMOVED nice article & relevant with #OpenGovCan in #yeg today.

Synopsis of link destination:

Ecosystem of information flows. Open government is about adding more information flows, to more people, in more ways that are more appropriate to needs. This is both about government releasing information, as well as creating new opportunities for citizens to provide ideas, concerns, and expertise into public decisions.

"Hey #opengovcan! Check out #FellowshipOEA to see brilliant work across the Americas on #opengov + #policyinnovation"

Synopsis of link destination:

# (hashtag) Refers to the OAS- Organization of American States. Fellowship works with Open Government hub on transparency, community and technology. (A co-working community & network of 35+ diverse organizations promoting open government (transparency, accountability, & civic engagement) around the world.

Beneficial ownership transparency requires that the real people who own/control companies be disclosed. The Panama Papers are the most recent event to draw attention to the need for beneficial ownership transparency to combat tax avoidance, tax evasion, money laundering and corruption; however, it is not a new concern.

The context

Budget 2016 sets out measures to improve tax compliance and tax integrity and to reduce tax evasion and tax avoidance [1] [2]. However, it doesn’t set out measures relating to beneficial ownership transparency, even though Canada has made commitments to beneficial ownership transparency at the 2014 G20 Brisbane Summit [3] and the 2013 G8 Summit [4]. Specific measures endorsed by the G20 are described in the Guidance on Transparency and Beneficial Ownership [5] by the Financial Action Task Force, cited in the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan [6].

In terms of Canada’s progress on its G20 commitments, in its 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group Accountability Report Questionnaire [7], Canada reports that it doesn’t “require that the beneficial ownership and company formation of all legal persons organized for profit be reported.” A later evaluation [8] in 2015 by Transparency International (the international secretariat, not the Canadian chapter) found Canada’s progress to be lacking.

In 2014, Canada held a consultation on the Canada Business Corporations Act [9], which included a question on beneficial ownership transparency. However, most comments addressed beneficial owners’ shareholder rights and communications means and did not engage with beneficial ownership transparency.

Beneficial ownership transparency was among the most popular ideas from Canada’s consultation on its 2014-16 action plan [10] and in the comments on its draft 2014-16 action plan [11]. The proposal was supported by Publish What You Pay Canada, Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, Partnership Africa Canada, MiningWatch Canada, InterPARES, Canadians for Tax Fairness.

A proposal

In drafting this commitment, Canada should explore which entities should be subject to beneficial ownership transparency and how and to whom this information should be disclosed. Implementing this commitment may require coordination with provincial securities regulations and the amendment of policies and regulations. Its implementation may benefit from a public consultation.

Canada may need to review the category of Objecting Beneficial Owners (OBOs): shareholders who can hide their identity from issuers and other marketplace participants. OBOs are unique to the US and Canada. The relevant policy is the National Instrument 54-101 Communication with Beneficial Owners of Securities of a Reporting Issuer.

If there are privacy concerns with respect to the collection of personal information for beneficial ownership, Canada can request that an expert, like the Privacy Commissioner, describe the privacy concerns and explore mitigation strategies.

Other resources

OGP members with commitments for beneficial ownership transparency include the UK [12] and US [13]. Other countries have implemented beneficial ownership transparency outside the scope of the OGP, including Australia.

For additional information, the policy paper, “A Beneficial Ownership Register for the World”, by OpenCorporates, may be relevant [14]. Many additional resources are available in Canada and internationally.

In brief - Canada should fulfill the commitments it made as a member of the G20 and G7 on beneficial ownership transparency through its 2016-18 action plan.

1. http://www.budget.gc.ca/2016/docs/plan/ch8-en.html
2. http://www.budget.gc.ca/2016/docs/tm-mf/si-rs-en.html
3. http://star.worldbank.org/star/sites/star/files/g20_high-level_principles_beneficial_ownership_transparency.pdf
4. http://www.international.gc.ca/g7/lough_erne-declaration.aspx?lang=eng
5. http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/Guidance-transparency-beneficial-ownership.pdf
6. https://star.worldbank.org/star/sites/star/files/g20_2015-2016_anti-corruption_action_plan_australia_2014.pdf
7. https://star.worldbank.org/star/sites/star/files/accountability_report_questionnaire_2014_canada.pdf
8. http://www.ethicscentre.ca/EN/resources/Final%20Canada%20BO%20Country%20Report%202015.pdf
9. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cilp-pdci.nsf/eng/h_cl00880.html
10. http://open.canada.ca/en/Beneficial_Ownership_Transparency
11. http://open.canada.ca/en/canadas-draft-action-plan-open-government-20
12. http://www.opengovpartnership.org/sites/default/files/20131031_ogp_uknationalactionplan.pdf
13. http://www.opengovpartnership.org/sites/default/files/final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf
14. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gjiZuvwjOYcNJd5btljqJC5yVopbc3dcGJre6-zfNes/edit

I fully agree with James' proposal. I think this information should be open and freely available. The Inter-corporate Ownership (61-517-X) database contains information about "who owns what" in Canada. The data is quite detailed and reaches back quite some time (I believe the initial version of the product dates from the 80s and perhaps even the 1970s.) From the Statistics Canada product page: From: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?objId=61-517-X&objType=2&la... "The Inter-corporate ownership product is the most authoritative and comprehensive source of information available on corporate ownership; a unique directory of "who owns what" in Canada. It provides up-to-date information reflecting recent corporate takeovers and other substantial changes. Ultimate corporate control is determined through a careful study of holdings by corporations, the effects of options, insider holdings, convertible shares and interlocking directorships. The number of corporations that make up the hierarchy of structures totals approximately 45,000. The information that is presented is based on non-confidential returns filed by Canadian corporations under the Corporations Returns Act and on research using public sources such as internet sites.

Anonymous shell companies are the vehicle of choice for corruption, criminal enterprises, and corporate tax evasion and avoidance. Even folks in the private sector agree there's no good reason to have one. It would be a great step to make the rules of the global economy fairer for everyone, fight crime from terrorism to human trafficking, and make it harder for government officials to engage in corruption. Everyone wins!

You can learn more about our views on beneficial ownership transparency here: https://financialtransparency.org/issues/beneficial-ownership/

SeeClickFix is a mobile, citizen reporting tool that has been readily and successfully adopted in 260+ cities across America. In addition, 10+ cities in Canada have already signed up — showing that there is a growing movement around this tool that empowers citizens to engage with their governments.

gov.seeclickfix.com

As Bernard Rudny and I wrote in our piece in Policy Options earlier this year [1]: “The Directive on Open Government requires that all information and data of business value be made available to the public, but not all government business is conducted in both official languages. In fact, most of the federal government’s information and data is monolingual. Clarifying in what circumstances information must be translated before being released will eliminate uncertainty among civil servants about how to comply with both policies.”

1. http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2016/whats-needed-to-deliver-on-the-federal-governments-open-by-default-promise/

Consultation nation! #opengovcan consults coming soon to a library near you. May 10 in #Ottawa. http://open.canada.ca/en/consultations/creating-canadas-action-plan-open-government-2016-18 …

I would suggest a good way of ensuring open government is to govern openly. Take for example cannabis, your party promised to legalize it, but 6 months later have said nothing about your plan, leaving Canadians completely in the dark and creating unnecessary and unhelpful confusion and ambiguity. Another example is the TPP. Again, all we hear is that Ms. Freeland is consulting, but we don't know who and we don't know anything else about your government's position on the TPP.

If your party is serious about openness, these examples don't really demonstrate that. It isn't particularly complicated; if you want to be open and transparent, then JUST BE OPEN AND TRANSPARENT. It really is pretty straight forward.

Dear average taxpayer:

We have completed an examination of your tax filings for the last three years and we wish to inform you that you have been reassessed and now owe us $2,192.63. You erroneously claimed undocumented charitable contributions totaling $756.45 on line 349 for the years 2012-2014 and unsupported medical claims of $1,090.16 on line 332 for the same period.

Furthermore, you failed to claim capital gains on some of your meager investments and we have assessed you an additional $759.23 for tax owing. If you require a more detailed explanation for these charges, why don't you hire an accountant? You can continue to try doing your taxes on your own but don't blame us when we nail you for even more owing.

Included within these charges are penalties and accumulated interest for the three-year period under investigation. Plus, if you don't cough up what you owe within 30 days, we're going to start charging you interest at what some might call a usurious rate.

Our suggestion to you is to pay as soon as you can or we can't promise what action will be taken next. While it's true we can't put you in prison, we can make your life a living hell for as long as necessary.

Your government in action,
The CRA

Dear valued wealthy client:

First, we'd like to apologize for corresponding with you directly. We know that you prefer that we communicate with you through your accountants or your esteemed team of corporate tax lawyers. However, in this case, we were obliged to contact you directly.

We almost hate to bring it up seeing as how the matter is so trivial but the law is the law, as they say (or at least as most Canadians say). It's just that one of our overzealous auditors happened to notice that you didn't declare income from money you've been holding in the Isle of Man for a number of years.

We assume that this was an oversight and probably was due to questionable advice you may have obtained elsewhere. God knows, it's hard to keep track of income when it's in the eight or nine-figure range, or at least that's what we've been told by those in the know. So we can see how a few million here or a few million there might easily be overlooked.

Sadly, however, it looks like there's some tax owing on the Isle of Man funds. Given that we were inexcusably tardy in bringing this matter to your attention, please take as long as you want to pay. And as for penalties and interest, just forget about it -- it's on us.

Let's face it: neither of us wants a long, drawn-out court battle over this -- and anyway, only one of us can afford that. So pay what you can when you can and we'll call it even.

Your pal,
The CRA

Crowdsourcing/Open-sourcing conception and design of tangible money

Partners: Government of Canada, Minister of Finance, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Royal Canadian Mint, Canadian Bank Note Company, Civil Society.

TANGIBLY is a social innovation non profit national community organization established in Montreal in 2016 with a mission to enhance the social, cultural, territorial, economic and environmental well-being of communities around Canada through a nation wide Design Lab. It is specifically dedicated to taking immediate, positive and passionate action to pursue the goal of improving the social and psychological experience of the use of currency by citizens throughout the country with projects focused on exploring the potential of current and future conceptions, designs and productions of tangible money.

Money is generally known as a medium that can be exchanged for goods and services and is also used as a measure of value. Money can be divided into two types: tangible and intangible. Tangible is something that is real, capable of being touched, substantial and material. It is safe to assume that many things in our world revolve around money but now, it is time for money to revolve around every day citizens, and make changes in regular circulation currency that generates real and actual tangible benefits, rather than imaginary ones. Tangibly's mission is to empower Canadians, both men and women, to become civically engaged members of society and to participate in social innovation processes related to projects of enhanced collaborative conception and design of tangible money.

The Theory of Citizen Participation is at the core of our mission and it is to put citizens' input and participation, both men and women, and especially the youth of Canada, at the heart of ideas, designs and alternative practices for printed bank notes and minted coinage. The projects aim to unleash the human potential of the minds and hands of all citizens to enhance the experience of commerce and exchange when it comes to tangible money.

It also aims to accelerate and optimize the use of high technology innovations in tangible money production processes with a purpose of exploring ways to foster social transformation. This reflects our desire to build a more meaningful and effective Canadian economy with definite impacts; not a vague or elusive proposition.

The main strategy is to enable the implementation of a pioneering design lab and social platform (Tangibly Design Lab) for national interactive dialogue and creation processes: from idea promotion to artistic contributions in the conception and design of printed bank notes and minted coinage. We work towards building a collaborative community in a decentralized, non-hierarchical way of working together that facilitates project-specific teamwork within a larger, ongoing and permanent national community. This socially innovative on-going national platform for the empowerment and achievement of individual contributors ( idea generators, artists, graphic designers, etc.) will allow us to empower citizens to seek the right information that will allow them to pursue innovative research and designs into the conception and design of tangible money. We also strive to build an equitable and inclusive social economy to ensure all Canadians, both men and women, have the opportunity to work and thrive.

We believe the social economy of Canada needs to be recognized worldwide for its ability to foster innovative solutions to economic disparity. We aim for a more just, prosperous and caring society through excellent research, effective networked collaboration and knowledge dissemination, and provide a valued neutral space within which an open dialogue among all interested parties can take place. We believe in using art for social change, to contribute significantly to the progress of a healthy democracy, by creating a sustainable sense of belonging to Canada and the power to produce tangible impacts. We are working on multi-sectoral partnerships that will allow for the tangible money of Canada to look like the innovations and new realities Canadians work so hard for, in order for these same Canadians to benefit from an immense increase in personal and psychological well-being. Improving the lives of Canadians—and contributing to a more resilient society—requires breakthrough ideas and approaches, game changing strategies and collaborations, and continuous innovation.To bring these values and projects into actual physical existence, we envision multiple possible futures for tangible currency. This includes Provincial and Territorial Empowerment Initiatives, and increased and complete knowledge diffusion on the principles of bank note and minted currency conceptions, designs and productions processes. While focusing on identifying innovations that are scaleable and have deep impact to create a more financially resilient society, and a thriving more beautiful Canadian economy, our aim is to create the future of tangible money that will reflect Canadian society and innovations, along side values of economic rights and financial inclusion.

You have a fair chunk of data from many sources it might be worth while to have a Data modeller look over the data but the complete task maybe to large.

You'd need to to to someone with some experience in this field to know if its worth while but if it is there are some very large potential savings to be found.

Hello,

The budget released Tuesday March 22, indicates an increasing budget deficit.

Please ensure that the right people know my serious reservations and concerns about this. It is not responsible to spend more money than the government brings in. It seems reckless to do so and stunts the long term prosperity and growth of the country. This also sets a poor example for the country's citizens to follow. Citizens, businesses and government should all attempt to manage their own finances wisely. Despite the pain of not being able to afford something immediately it is better to spend when the money is there rather than to foster indebtedness.

Please, please spend our country's money wisely and frugally. Please don't run a deficit. We Canadians work hard to earn our money and try hard to live within our means. It feels disrespectful that our nation not also strive to do the same in a display of solidarity with us. Being fiscally prudent may not have much glitz and glamour but in the long term it will set up the country for even greater success. Please could you pass along this note and sentiments within to the Finance Minister Bill Morneau and to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? I realize that I'm just one voice and I question what really 'one voice' can do. But I believe that many many Canadians, regardless their political affiliation, would echo my thoughts. Thank you.

The Government of Canada has an opportunity to use this OGP action plan to solve a concrete problem by developing and implementing a new Grants and Contributions (G&C) Data Standard to make improved G&C data available to citizens, the nonprofit sector, and public officials. Canada is already recognized internationally as a leader in the quality and availability of data about its nonprofit sector [1]. Improved G&Cs data will enable Canadians to better understand government spending to its nonprofit sector and to use that understanding to engage in solution-finding in communities and to partner with government on social policy objectives.

The Proposal

G&Cs are the main ways that our government funds organizations in support of program objectives like community development, integration of refugees, or youth engaging in physical activity. The Directive on Open Government already compels departments to release grants & contributions programs data. However, it does not dictate a standard format for the data.

We propose that the Government of Canada include in its action plan a commitment to develop and implement a new standard for publishing G&C data. This will ensure that the information published is detailed and structured enough to be useful for a wide variety of stakeholders and is interoperable with data from other departments and about other government expenditures (e.g. contracts). The design of that standard must be done with input from open data experts, policy makers, and nonprofit representatives.

The Need

Both the nonprofit sector and the federal government have clearly identified that more and better information about the sector, including its funding via G&Cs, is required for improved policy and decision-making. In 2003, the National Survey of Non-profit and Voluntary Organizations (NSNVO) [2] was initiated to meet that information need by “collecting comprehensiveinformation about the breadth of Canada’s nonprofit and voluntary sector, the types of organizations that make up the sector, and the areas in which they are active” [3]. Unfortunately, this valuable survey was only conducted once.

A second example of a need for more G&C information was documented in the Independent Blue Ribbon Panel on Federal Grant and Contribution Programs, which was commissioned by the Treasury Board in 2006 [4]. One of its top recommendations was improved information sharing “[t]o reduce the burden on clients and improve service, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat should [...] ensure that relevant information about federal investments in grants and contributions is easily available across government”, and included a specific recommendation for “the sharing [of a] recipient’s grant and contribution funding history” through business numbers. While this report resulted in many positive changes in how federal G&Cs were made, the recommendations for improved information sharing remain to be fulfilled.

The Benefits

Developing and implementing a standard for open G&C data will:

• Allow the nonprofit sector to identify, understand, and plan around the distribution of funds and resources, as well as increase opportunities for collaboration.
• Increase the value of data from individual departments by making it machine-readable and compatible across departments.
• Enable policymakers, researchers, media, and others to perform analysis on patterns of spending — leading to greater accountability, better policies and more effective services.
• Demonstrate financial transparency to Canadians.

It is important to emphasize that the only way that these benefits are achieved is if this data is published in a robust data standard designed specifically for these use cases. Publishing basic machine-readable data along the lines of what is currently available will not provide these results. This is why an advisory group must be consulted to develop this standard. Fortunately, Canada has deep expertise in this area, having been involved as a key contributor to many internationally recognized data standards.

Through Canada’s leadership in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the International Open Data Charter, this standard could become a global norm for G&C-type of spending data. Because of Canada’s expertise with multiple data standards, the G&C data standard could easily be designed to be interoperable with other international data initiatives such as procurement transparency, fiscal transparency, non-profit grantmaking, corporate transparency and international development aid transparency.

1. http://odimpact.org/case-opening-canadas-t3010-charity-information-return-data.html
2. http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&Id=5827
3. http://www.imaginecanada.ca/sites/default/files/www/en/nsnvo/a_strengthening_capacity_of_organizations.pdf
4. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/BT22-109-2007E.pdf

Voici une idée qui permettrait aux acteurs du secteur sans but lucratif de faire preuve de plus de transparence et de travailler en plus étroite collaboration avec la société civile et les bailleurs de fonds.

GT: Here's an idea that would allow non-profit sector players to show more transparency and to work more closely with civil society and donors.

To fully participate, people need to see the invitation of open data, and open data initiatives. Without this type of literacy, we are limiting participation to those who care to seek out solutions - we're moving too slow.

And this isn't only *just* understanding how to 'use' data, it's giving people a realization - that they can innovate for how we share, when we share, and what mechanisms can make using and understanding that information clearer; that they can invent and improve. Ultimately prosperity of individuals with this empowered learning, drive social-eocnomic benefits far and beyond what we can imagine.

• Endorse and implement the Open Contracting Global Principles [1], which have been endorsed by the governments of the United Kingdom and Scotland [2].
• Participate in the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) [3] program, which 14 countries have joined including the United Kingdom [4].
• Adopt the International Open Data Charter [5], which has been adopted by 10 national governments including Italy, France, Mexico and the United Kingdom [6].
1. http://www.open-contracting.org/get-started/global-principles/
2. http://www.opengovpartnership.org/tags/procurement
3. http://www.constructiontransparency.org/
4. http://www.constructiontransparency.org/site/cons/templates/generalwide.aspx?pageid=23&cc=gb
5. http://opendatacharter.net/
6. http://opendatacharter.net/adopted-by-countries-and-cities-2/

Parliaments around the world are adopting open parliament action plans as part of their Open Government National Action Plans. Legislative openness has been called "one of the greatest success stories of the OGP" [2]. The House of Commons of Canada could endorse the principles set out in the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness [3]. Supported by 140 organizations in 75 countries, the Declaration promotes a culture of openness by making parliamentary information transparent, easing access to parliamentary information, and enabling electronic communication of parliamentary information. Endorsing the Declaration would send a clear institutional signal to all Canadians that Parliament is commitment to these principles and opportunities for future collaboration on open parliament initiatives. Working with civil society, the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, or another parliamentary body, could explore which parliamentary mechanism would be appropriate to achieve this commitment idea.

References:

1. Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Costa Rica, and others.
2. http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/ogp-webmaster/2016/04/19/legislative-openness-one-ogp%E2%80%99s-greatest-success-stories
3. http://www.openingparliament.org/declaration

The data published by the Parliament of Canada -- like votes and speeches, and much more -- is generally of high quality and consistency. Yet, parliament could make more data accessible in open data format if it's information management approach engaged parliamentary data users more systematically.

High volume data users like Parliament.ca note that too often information that's technically available sometimes lacks documentation, support of any kind, or the licensing is not open/permissive. In some cases, like audio/video, the data is available internally but not available to the public, or in open data format. The demand for this data may not be clearly communicated nor acknowledged.

Committee schedules and other committee data, on the other hand, are not published as data. For a few years post-2011, whenever a section of parl.gc.ca was redesigned, XML data was included. Unfortunately, when the committees website was (nicely!) redone a few months ago, no data was included. It would be useful to include open data in all new development work.

There are other potentially interesting legislative data that isn't available, like structured data for legislation, written questions/answers and other tabled documents.

The work of the Hansard office is also a noteworthy example. While it does truly heroic indexing work, carefully categorizing each speech within a structured ontology, this isn't included in their public document XML, which could be extremely useful for research. A lot of great technical work is done, but in isolation from the needs of data users.

For parliamentary data users, and Canadians at large, having someone in the House of Commons with "open data" in their job description, who could engage with users, would be great step towards increasing open communication. This commitment idea, therefore, calls for an engagement process with parliamentary data users and stakeholders. This National Action Plan is an opportunity to develop a common approach and vision for a dynamic and innovative parliamentary data ecosystem in Canada.