Rosie Lombardi

Decades of siloed system design have left most government organizations with antique, rickety systems that don't play well with others. By putting new SOA wrappers on old proprietary applications, modular interfaces can be built, shared, linked, reused and recombined as needed. The utopia is infinite interoperability.

Cheap and plentiful data storage can be both a blessing and a curse. It creates the illusion there is infinite space available for data on networks. This intensifies human pack-rat tendencies to hoard data instead of evaluating what's really needed. All this accumulating data has impacts far beyond storage costs, cascading into all aspects of IT operations and management.

Making sense of the immense piles of disjointed data amassed by government is paramount. Translating public spending into meaningful results is what earns it credibility. System integration, information lifecycle management and other initiatives to re-order information processing will take years to come to fruition. What to do in the interim with existing data and systems?

Canadian government IT executives recognize that data disorder in the public sector is unsustainable, but no one province has all the necessary resources to tackle all the issues. Instead of working in isolation, a new sub-committee has been formed to develop common standards and guidelines across all levels of government.

The nanny state's days are numbered. For over a century, government's top-down approach has created a culture of control and programmed public expectations that the state is responsible for solving society's problems. There are many complex social problems today that can't be solved by issuing edicts from office towers in Ottawa. Obesity, racism, economic sustainability: these are issues that need to be tackled communally by diverse players at all levels to change attitudes and behaviour.

Edmonton is an oddity. It is one of the few cities in North America that is systematically tackling public engagement. In 2005, the City started up the Office of Public Involvement (OPI) to reshape the dynamics of municipal politics. "The overall goal is to change the culture of the city so that public involvement becomes a part of our day-to-day business," says coordinator Jill Bradford-Green.

Citizens who are dissatisfied with Ontario's electoral system will have their say this fall. Inspired by British Columbia's experiment in 2004, Ontario followed suit in 2006 by convening a Citizens' Assembly for the first time in its history. Randomly selected, 103 citizens were canvassed to study the intricacies of electoral systems and make recommendations for reform.

Edmonton is an oddity. It is one of the few cities in North America that is systematically tackling public engagement. In 2005, the City started up the Office of Public Involvement (OPI) to reshape the dynamics of municipal politics. "The overall goal is to change the culture of the city so that public involvement becomes a part of our day-to-day business," says coordinator Jill Bradford-Green.