Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22

Governing Digitally

Jeffrey Roy

hat the new Liberal Government has

embraced “open government” is hardly

surprising. President Obama promised

much the same in 2008 (passing an in-

augural Openness Directive early in 2009), as did

Stephen Harper in 2006 with his post-Gomery

Federal Accountability Act (an uncomfortable

lesson for Liberals, as Ontarians know well, is

that scandal is fertile breeding ground for open-

ness pledges).

With a fresh start, Trudeau’s team can now pur-

sue openness on their own terms, free from past

transgressions. The Liberal manifesto defined

open government in four ways: restoring the

long-form census; expanding open data; improv-

ing access to information (and the transparency

of requests and response times); and a new on-

line portal to track government spending.

In gauging such measures, a bit of a reality

check is called for: the first is already redundant

in leading digital jurisdictions; the second builds

on the one area where the Conservatives can

legitimately claimed to have invested; and the

fourth, as the Liberal platform itself noted, draws

from reforms implemented years ago south of the

border. The four steps, in other words, amount to

incrementalism of the first order.

In fairness, however, other aspects of the Liberal

plan address openness in indirect yet important

ways: electoral and Parliamentary reforms and

expanded political oversight of the national secu-

rity apparatus are prime examples. The conduct of

the public service also matters: providing oxygen

to government scientists to speak more freely – in

person and online, is a notable first step.

In short, the pursuit of more open government

is now a given. The more salient choice for the

Trudeau Government is fundamentally about

how it views the relationship between openness

and power, and between information and gover-

nance. In building on electoral pledges, a more

traditional stance seeks heightened transparency

as a means of deepening accountability and pub-

lic trust. Through a more transformative lens,

openness enables shared decision-making, both

administratively and politically.

Such a choice rests first and foremost with the

Prime Minister and his own calculus as to what

matters to most Canadians: stronger results with-

in existing institutions or a rethink of the institu-

tions themselves? Outside of Canada, autocratic

regimes are on the rise in places such as Turkey

and Egypt – and anti-democratic tendencies are

growing across much of Eastern Europe, both

within and outside of the European Union.

Rising extremism and a stagnant economy

have prodded French President Hollande to be-

come more assertive in legislative affairs, largely

abandoning past pledges of Parliamentary em-

powerment. Such context helps to explain Harp-

er’s success in 2011 in portraying stability in the

face of global economic turbulence - an approach

that would backfire four years later due to a toxic

mixture of security, immigration, and culture.

Shaped by Harper’s worldview, it is not sur-

prising that amongst the three pillars of the prior

Government’s formal Open Government Action

Plan – Data, Information, and Dialogue, only the

first would find any political traction. The others

were simply too far removed from the confines of

command and control governance for any mean-

ingful action.

An alternative worldview of political leader-

ship also exists. Dubbed the world’s most pow-

erful woman by

Forbes Magazine

, most every

decision made by Angela Merkel stems from

negotiations within the legislature. The most

open countries in the world (according to rank-

ings by Transparency International) are typically

governed by such power-sharing arrangements.

Politics often correlates with technology: Esto-

nia’s e-voting platform is open-source.

Electoral and Parliamentary reforms are thus

essential ingredients of more open and digital

government (see my previous column for a bit

more discussion of such themes). Linking open-

ness, collaboration, and participationwas the aim

of President Obama’s Inaugural Directive back in

2009. Yet despite significant achievements, by his

own admission he has failed to loosen partisan

gridlock and polarizing rhetoric (thereby feeding

the “Washington is broken” mantra of outsider

candidates that, ironically, was the centrepiece

of Obama’s first Presidential campaign).

In tackling our widely recognized democratic

deficit, then, transparency is important though

insufficient. Prime Minister Trudeau has sig-

nalled a willingness to empower his Ministers

(and by extension, public servants), and to work

with other political leaders both foreign and do-

mestic. Hopefully, this inclusiveness will extend

to both Parliament and the citizenry. Such is the

essence of genuinely more open and transforma-

tive governance.

effrey

is professor in the School of

Public Administration at Dalhousie

University

(roy@dal.ca)

Open Government and Political Leadership

/ Canadian Government Executive

// February 2016

Prime Minister

Trudeau has sig-

nalled a willing-

ness to empower

his Ministers

(and by extension,

public servants),

and to work with

other political

leaders both for-

eign and domes-

tic. Hopefully, this

inclusiveness will

extend to both

Parliament and

the citizenry.