Change to Elections Act just a start, Clement says

The head of Canada's Open Government initiative said the change in election laws to account for Twitter is part of a greater transformation the government must make.

The Harper government said Friday it would end a ban on posting early election results before polls close across the country.

Tony Clement, who is the president of the Treasury Board, and is leading the government's initiative into more open data and communications, said this was long overdue.

"I think it recognizes the inevitable," Clement said. "The fact is when news can travel at the speed of light, to have these antiquarian rules in place, just doesn't work. Elections Canada will have to adjust within reason the opening and closing times of the polls."

In Montreal to meet with business leaders Friday, Clement said there is a major change in mentality that must take place among MPs and bureaucrats in order to make communication with the public easier.

The Open Government initiative will strive to improve both transparency and the government's reputation with a series of new measures meant to increase public dialogue with government and the amount of federal information available to citizens.

The government's open government project is split into three initiatives focused on data sets, information requests and public dialogue.

On the open information file, the government has mandated that, as of Jan. 1, all federal departments and agencies must post summaries of completed access-to-information requests on their websites within about 30 days of delivering the response.

On the open dialogue front, Clement said he was proud to have held the first Twitter Town Hall last year, and he thinks it's something that will be repeated by other ministers and MPs.

Clement said it's a difficult job, which will require a change in mentality.

"Any government, regardless of political stripe, is going to have a culture that keeps information close," he said. "The larger goal is to change that culture to allow for greater exchange for information, greater dialogue."

However, he rebuffed criticisms that his government has a poor record dealing with questions from the media, and from the public.

"We're pretty open. We all got elected, so we had to deal with the public somewhere along the line. I'm more interested in making sure that regardless of who the minster or MP is, that we have a system in place that we have some confidence in."

Original Article
Source: Montreal Gazette