“We did it.”

These were the first words Ontario’s Corporate Chief Information Officer (CCIO), Greg Georgeff, uttered to open Showcase Ontario 2003, the province’s annual I&IT event.

The short opening line Georgeff used in his keynote was in reference to the province’s three-year plan to implement new and improved e-government services.

“In just three years, we’ve raised the overall public satisfaction with government services,” he said. “In just three years, we climbed to the pinnacle and stayed there. Ontario is a world leader in the delivery of e-government.”

Georgeff said the province has enjoyed success on the electronic service delivery (ESD) front due to collaboration across the Ontario public service, with the broader public sector, and with private sector partners.

“This collaboration closely aligns expertise in technology with government business direction,” he said. “Together we can proudly say, ‘Mission accomplished.’ And that’s an achievement we can all celebrate.”

The CCIO also said the province’s success can be measured by the 71 per cent user satisfaction rating Ontario received in a recent study. Two of the keys to the high rating were speed and convenience of service offerings.

Some of the province’s e-government projects Georgeff highlighted during his keynote included Telehealth Ontario, the Justice Cluster’s major case management system, Ontario Business Connects, and e-Laws – a Web site where new provincial laws are posted within 24 hours.

“E-government is not a destination,” Georgeff said. “It’s an ongoing journey of continuos improvement. We’re moving closer to the day where we’ll drop the ‘e’ in e-government. Electronic government will become business as usual because e-government is just good business and e-government is good government.”