Minister Clement Announces Progress on Key Open Government Initiatives

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2011) - The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for FedNor, today announced the delivery of key elements under the Open Government initiative.

One key element is the improvement to the licensing agreement in the Open Data portal pilot project that is expected to encourage widespread use of this data. Under the new license agreement, users can now access data provided at data.gc.ca in a more simple way, and with fewer restrictions.

The Open Data portal project is part of the Open Data stream of Open Government, which aims to improve the ability of the public to find, download and use Government of Canada data.

"This improved license agreement will encourage even more use of government data in finding innovative ways to provide services to Canadians," said Minister Clement.

The Open Data portal website features more than 260,000 data sets, including a number of new general data sets added since the launch. That number will continue to grow as the project expands and more federal departments and agencies come onboard. During this pilot project, the Government will also continue to monitor and consider national and international best practices, as well as user feedback, in the licensing of federal open data.

Regarding the Open Information stream, the March 18, 2011, announcement on Open Government stated that all departments and agencies subject to the Access to Information Act will be expected to move toward posting summaries of completed access to information requests on their websites. To ensure all institutions subject to the Act meet this goal, the Government will be making it a mandatory requirement effective January 1, 2012. Summaries would be posted within 30 calendar days after the end of each month during which the responses to requests were issued.

"The Government of Canada is a leader in making information available to its citizens," said Minister Clement. "By posting summaries of completed access to information requests online, our Government is fulfilling its commitment to making more information readily available to Canadians."

Thirty-four institutions are already making summaries of completed access to information requests available on their websites, up from seven at the launch of Open Government.

Links to summaries and other recent Open Government initiatives such as the publication of quarterly financial reports by departments and agencies are available at www.open.gc.ca.

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This news release is available online at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca.