E-government.

Government rhetoric has turned redundant

A discussion paper announcing groundbreaking news about an "...innovative federal government initiative which could have a significant impact on the Canadian information and knowledge-based industries," also points out "the innovation (is) stimulating economic growth while reducing the cost of government and increasing the level of service delivery to the public."

The document claims the government is dedicated to "...harnessing the strengths of both the public and private sectors through a proactive, co-operative initiative between the government and the Canadian private sector to build an effective infrastructure." And to "...spending smarter - to do more with what we have" by leveraging current and projected government expenditure on the application of information technology through the creation of a common infrastructure."

In a rare literary moment of government candour, the paper states, "We want a country whose governments are efficient, innovative and cooperative. People are disappointed by, and irritated with the poor quality of services provided by many public institutions and by the apparent duplication of services between levels of government and within the federal government itself."

"Established infrastructures in telecommunications, cable and broadcasting are undergoing a major transformation. This is a result of the convergence of communications and information technologies. More importantly, the transformation is being driven by the demands of the emerging information age for efficient, accessible, affordable and convenient electronic interaction between the suppliers of information and the consumers of information."

If you've read this far, you no doubt believe the discussion paper makes it sound like the government thinking is on the right track. We all want a country where governments are efficient, innovative and co-operative.

We all want an effective, efficient means exchange information with the government of our country.

The discussion paper being quoted was published on November 22, 1993.

In the intervening years, we've crossed the threshold of a new millennium, witnessed the explosion of the Internet; read about the creation of new empires and multi-millionaires and tried, as best we could, to work with the explosion of technology on our desks.

But here we are, eight short (or long, depending on your personal fortunes over the period) years-later with Lucienne Robillard, president of the Treasury Board, saying, only last March, "Our vision for governing in the 21st century is to put the citizen in the centre of information and services delivery. How? By using technology to reduce barriers, increase availability and access to all citizens, improve decision-making effectiveness and make government more efficient and transparent."

One of the targets proposed in 1993, being able to send a change of address to all government departments with one missive, is no more reality today than it was then. And little of the rest of those lofty ideals has come to fruition. Sure, there are jillions of terrabytes of Web pages, but the promised interactivity and ideals of service is sadly lacking.

"Disappointed and irritated," doesn't begin to describe the frustration involved with what should be a simple request, like finding out why you haven't received the firearms acquisition licence for which you wrote an exam, filled out an extensive application and paid $60 for it eight months ago. Good luck.

In June some 600 federal civil servants flew to Edmonton, Alta. to express their views on the remaking of that marvelous concept, "electronic government" (Why we purchased air fares to move a significant portion of the civil service halfway across the country for a meeting is another question.) We, the "citizens at the centre" should all be paralyzed in mortal fear of the 600 gang-producing Electronic Government II - a discussion paper on all the services we can expect some time in the unspecified future.

We may know what we want, and they might know what we want, but, if the last eight years provides any insight, what we want and what we get may not add up to the same thing.

Milne is the proprietor of All Outdoors Productions in North Bay.