This site will look much better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

Print this page

From CGE

Citizen consulation

More >>

From Vanguard

Defense, Diplomacy, Development, Security

More >>

Newsletter

Sign up for your free email newsletter, and keep yourself up to date with the latest in Networked Government. Seven topics to choose from!

Email Address

Commentary

by David Zusman


Public service renewal has become a major priority of the federal government and many provincial governments. The interest in renewal is driven by a number of diverse but converging factors:
· Canadians expect increasingly higher levels of service from their governments and greater transparency. Consequently, the skills that are required to be an effective public servant have changed to respond to these new circumstances.
· To compound the renewal ch...

Full Commentary >>




ON THE COVER:

From left:

Dr. Gerri Sinclair, President of the Premier's Technology Council, and former CEO of NCompass Labs;

Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia;

Paul Lee, Co-Chair of the Premier's Technology Council, and Senior VP of Electronic Arts, Inc.

Photo: Jeff Vinnick, vinnick@telus.net

Picture
Renewing the Communications Function in the Federal Government
Fraser Likely and Jodi Redmond
The Government of Canada's communications community is well into a renewal process aimed as strengthening its organizational capacity across Canada. As functional leader of the communications community in the Public Service of Canada, the Privy Council Office (Communications and Consultation Secretariat) commissioned Likely Communication Strategies to review the communications functions in in 28 departments and agencies in the fall of 2001.
PREMIER GORDON CAMPBELL: E-Government in British Columbia
John Dingwall
British Columbia is the Showcase Province for this year's Technology in Government Week (Oct. 7-10). To see where BC is headed with e-government and electronic service delivery, we spoke with Premier Gordon Campbell, who has provided strong leadership and support in this area.

Experienced in public service, Mr. Campbell has served as a City Councillor, as Mayor of Vancouver (for three terms), and as President of the Union of BC Muncipalities. He has been Premier of British Columbia since June, 2001
Margaret Purdy: Our Shared Responsibility
John Leech
In Feb 2001, the Prime Minister announced the creation of the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) in the Department of National Defence. He also announced the appointment of Margaret Purdy as Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence with responsibility for this new entity. We are more accustomed to hearing about natural disasters and criminal/terrorist threats against our critical infrastructure. Each week, we are alerted to the latest terrorist plot, but apart from sporadic sensational news reports, we are less familiar with the cyber-threat. Recently, Canadian Government Executive Magazine interviewed Margaret Purdy, to hear about the changing threat and our Canadian response, as well as her invitation for all of us to get involved in being prepared for the unpredictable future.
Integrated Service Delivery: BC's Enterprise Portal
Lee Denny
Why an Enterprise Portal for British Columbia? Because there is a strong and increasing demand for it.

The public is demanding more and more services electronically, from both the public and private sectors-and it is crucial for government to keep up with these ever-increasing demands.
Getting Serious About Risk-Control
Malcolm K. Sparrow
For many agencies of government, risk-control is at the core of their mission. They exist primarily to identify and control harms of one kind or another-actual or potential.

They are responsible for such functions as crime control, environmental protection, occupational safety and health, disease control, transportation safety, consumer and investor protection, and national security and counter-terrorism. Risk control is central to what they do.
Ontario Reaches Out for Regulatory Excellence
Scot Weeres and Tim Paleczny
In early 18th Century England, solicitors tied up their clients' papers with red ribbon to prevent them from separating. To get at the papers, they had to cut through the red tape.

Today, cutting through red tape is a common expression used to describe any effective approach to dispensing with unnecessary routines or procedures.