Wynne takes steps toward ‘open government’

 TORONTO Premier Kathleen Wynne wants to fling open the doors of government.

Dogged by the lingering controversy over the Liberals' shadowy cancellation of two gas plants at a cost of up $1.1 billion, Wynne is pushing for greater transparency at Queen's Park.

"Together, let's do government differently," the premier writes in an unusual open letter to Ontarians to be released Monday.

"We need to make information easier to find, understand and use, so that we can design services that deliver better results to the people of Ontario. We must also unlock public data so that you can help us solve problems and find new ways of doing things," she continues.

"I believe that government data belongs to the people of Ontario and so we will make government data open by default, limiting access only to safeguard privacy, security and confidentiality."

To that end, the premier will turn to a top academic, a respected former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, business leaders, and a bevy of experts on "open government" to improve public access to the inner workings of the province.

The Open Government Engagement Team, to be chaired by Ottawa public policy guru Don Lenihan, will report back in the spring — likely before an election expected as early as May — on ways to "increase openness, transparency, and accountability."

Lenihan will lead a blue-ribbon panel that includes: former Conservative MPP Norm Sterling, who held nine different ministerial portfolios in a political career that spanned from 1977 until 2011; activist David Eaves, who was instrumental in getting the federal government to launch its open data initiative two years ago; Alison Loat, co-founder of Samara, an organization that promotes civic engagement; and digital media entrepreneur Ray Sharma, president of XMG Studio, which creates mobile video games.

Also on board are Google Canada's Leslie Church, former deputy minister Elaine Meller Todres, Peter MacLeod, principal of MASS LBP, a firm that helps governments and companies improve public consultation, and Western University medical student Hirad Zafari.

With a relatively short time frame for their work, the panel will seek feedback from across the province and focus on three areas:

First, "open dialogue," including the creation of an online space to help involve Ontarians in government consultation.

Second, "open data," which will see more internal information posted online so academics and businesspeople can have greater access to statistics on gridlock, student achievement, and medical wait times, among other things.

Third, and perhaps most significant given the Liberals' power-plants debacle, is "open information" that promises to increase transparency across the provincial government.

While Ontario already posts online the salaries of public servants earning $100,000 and more as well as their meal and hospitality expenses, Wynne wants even more information available to the public.

Her appeal for more openness comes against the backdrop of the Grits' costly axing of gas-fired electricity-generating plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 provincial election to secure five seats.

The outcry hastened the retirement of former premier Dalton McGuinty and then-energy minister Chris Bentley one year ago.

A legislative committee probing the debacle had to fight for the release of 160,000 documents related to the deals and Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian has chided the Liberals for deleting — or trying to delete — emails related to the transactions.

Both the Conservatives and New Democrats have expressed frustration at the veil of secrecy that has shrouded the entire episode.

Toronto Star


_{Source: thespec.com}