Open government at a crossroad: Canada needs better funding and access to information reform
At the same time, an active and ambitious open government plan needs high-level political buy in. Rhetorically, we seem to have this with the new government, but this needs to be followed by action and resources. So far, this has been sorely lacking.
CARCASSONNE, FRANCE—In October, I did a little happy dance when there was a change in government. As someone who works in the area of open government and who has called for the changes to the Access to Information Act, and for the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census it seemed like a good occasion to uncork a bottle of bubbly. When I started hearing calls for another review of the Access to Information Act, I had to put the bubbly away and commenced a frantic internet search for an article that would assure me this was not the case. After sifting through countless news reports and international proclamations regarding the ‘dreaminess’ of our new leader, I was left empty handed. While a review is perhaps better than nothing it wasn’t the kind of reform I had anticipated would follow with the new government.
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