E-Government in Canada: Transition or Transformation?

Abstract

The objectives of this chapter are first, to examine the main conceptual dimensions of electronic government and second, to critically assess Canada’s public sector. The following definition of e-government is a starting point: the continuous innovation in the delivery of services, citizen participation, and governance through the transformation of external and internal relationships by the use of information technology, especially the Internet. For some, e-governance is distinguishable from e government in that the former comprises a more fundamental sharing and reorganizing of power across all stakeholders and the citizenry, whereas the latter is more focused on modernizing existing state processes to improve performance with respect to existing services and policies. In the short term, digital technologies continue to serve primarily as a platform for incremental changes to the service and security architectures. Yet, broader pressures and questions about transparency and trust continue to build. A key question is whether or not a new government is prepared to embrace a more holistic redesign of political institutions predicated on information openness and public engagement.