e-consultation on open government in Canada

UPDATE 2011-03-13: While you can certainly still provide input to the committee, they did not receive budgetary approval for their e-consultation (their regular study meetings will continue).  ENDUPDATE

David Mason (@nostriluu) notes some interesting items in the minutes of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI), as part of their study on Open Government - there are items about e-consultation and a letter to the government itself (emphasis mine below).

The Chair presented the Eighth Report from the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure which read as follows:

Your Subcommittee met on Monday, January 31, 2011, to consider the business of the Committee and agreed to make the following recommendations:

1. That the witnesses schedule for the open government study be approved as presented.

2. That the Committee instruct the House administration to invite the three potential suppliers, for the E-consultation on the open government study, to a bidder’s conference; and that the House administration return to the Committee with one recommendation.

3. That the Clerk draft a letter on behalf of the Committee to the government of Canada encouraging them to move forward with an open government initiative; and that the Committee write a letter to the Speaker of the House recommending that the Board of Internal Economy study the possibility of an open parliament initiative, and that these letters be considered at the next meeting of the Subcommittee.

4. That the Clerk draft a letter on behalf of the Committee to the Speaker of the House recommending that the Board of Internal Economy study the possibility of additional in-house resources for future E-consultation projects undertaken by committees, and that this letter be considered at the next meeting of the Subcommittee.

From Minutes of Proceeedings - Meeting No. 40 - January 31, 2011.

Two examples of the government (as opposed to Parliamentary committees) doing e-consultations are the Digital Economy Strategy consultation which ran in 2010, and the 2011 Red Tape Reduction Commission.

As far as I know, there is no official technology platform or technology architecture for internal and external consultations for Parliament or the Federal public service.

If you have expertise in online consultations whether from a process or a technology perspective, I suggest you contact the committee: ETHI@parl.gc.ca

For a continuously-updated posting about the open government study in general, including links to video archives of each meeting (if available), please see my previous post: open government in Canada - submit your thoughts to Parliament.

Comments

[davidm]

http://twitter.com/#!/Carolyn_Bennett/status/43385108664815616

#cdnpoli Liason sub- Comm (5#cpc 2#lpx) just refused budget for the ETHI e-consultation #opengovernment... Grrrrr. Let the people in !!!!