Minister Clement Announces New Open Data Portal

MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Oct. 24, 2012) - The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, unveiled plans today to revamp the Government's Open Data portal during an address at the World Congress on Information Technology in Montréal.

The plan is for an improved portal housing government-collected data that can be freely downloaded, which would feature significantly improved search capabilities and enhanced interactive tools.

"We are on the cusp of some truly exciting opportunities and this new portal underscores our Government's commitment to the growing open data movement around the world," said Minister Clement. "Our Government's plan to move to an improved platform is a result of open, international collaboration that not only strengthens best practices among governments, but bolsters transparency and citizen engagement."

The Open Data Portal was originally launched as a pilot project in March 2011, as part of the Open Government initiative. Since then, some 273,000 datasets from 21 participating agencies have been uploaded to the portal, generating about one million user sessions.

The new portal is expected to be ready in the spring of 2013. In the meantime, the current portal was re-launched today with new content and links to government applications as well as to provincial and municipal open data portals across Canada.

The new content includes a request for feedback on a new Open Government licence that will provide for unrestricted commercial and non-commercial re-use of Government information and is consistent with international best practices.

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