Open government is based on the idea that the public should be able to see, understand, contribute to, monitor, and evaluate public decisions and actions. Defined by the OECD as “a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth”, open government constitutes a change of paradigm for governments, public administrations, civil servants, citizens, and public policy stakeholders in general. The implementation of open government reforms can help countries address complex policy challenges and improve policy efficiency, effectiveness and compliance. Over time, it can reinforce democracy, by improving inclusive and responsive policymaking and service design and delivery, and, hence, strengthen citizen trust in public institutions and governments.

Canada has a long history of implementing reforms that seek to strengthen the relationship between government and citizens. Today, the country is widely seen as a leader in the global open government community and stands out for its highly developed open data and open information agenda. Accordingly, Canada compares well in various indicators measuring the openness of government. For example, it ranked first globally in the most recent Open Data Barometer and fifth in the OECD OURdata index. Moreover, successive Canadian administrations have shown high levels of political support for open government. Thanks to a highly effective, hands-on approach to open government by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), the main co-ordinating institution of Canada’s open government agenda, open government initiatives (while not always labelled as such) can today be found in all federal government ministries and departments and at all levels of government.

Building on its achievements, Canada is now working to increase the impact of the open government agenda on citizens’ trust in public institutions and, ultimately, strengthen democracy. Notably, Canada is seeking to broaden and extend the understanding of open government across the federal government, moving from a focus on open data and open information to other important dimensions, such as citizen and stakeholder participation and the protection and promotion of civic space. Moreover, like many other OECD Member countries, Canada is working to identify, quantify and communicate the causal link between the implementation of open government initiatives and their impact on the functioning of the public sector. Finally, the country seeks to complement and bolster its highly effective “start-up approach” to open government with a more “classical” policy approach in order to consolidate Canada’s open government efforts.

To promote a more holistic approach to open government - as in other OECD Member countries such as Colombia, Finland, or Italy - Canada has decided to develop its first umbrella policy framework for open government at the federal level. The design of an open government strategy is an ambitious undertaking that needs to be adapted to the specific context of each country and that may require far-reaching reforms. The assessment presented in this Scan is based on the premise that Canada plans to develop an open government strategy that focuses on creating the necessary governance arrangements and mechanisms to align all strategies and initiatives that are linked to the promotion of openness and bring them together under a coherent narrative. The policy recommendations provided in this Scan build on Canada’s achievements and aim to support the government in building a wider ecosystem that can ensure sustainability and continuity of reform efforts in the medium and long term.