Minister Brison heralds Canada’s open government leadership at the OGP Americas Regional Meeting

From: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

News Release

November 24, 2017, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Canada is committed to sharing best practices in open, participatory government as it takes a leadership role in the global open government movement.

This week, the Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, attended the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Americas Regional Meeting in Buenos Aires as Canada took on its new role as government co-chair. Canada was chosen in October to co-chair the international partnership after being overwhelmingly elected to the OGP steering committee earlier in 2017.

The Regional Meeting brought together 2,000 government and civil society representatives to discuss seven major themes, from civic technology to sustainable development goals. He was joined by Erin Weir, Member of Parliament for Regina–Lewvan (Saskatchewan).

Minister Brison heralded Canada’s 3 key priorities as co-chair of the OGP:

  • including marginalized or under-represented groups in policy making
  • increasing citizen participation in policy making
  • measuring the impact of global open government efforts

While in Argentina, Minister Brison met with a number of key partners, including: Andrés Ibarra, Argentina’s Minister of Modernization; Gabriel Cifuentes, Colombia’s Secretary of Transparency; Ana Gabriel Zúñiga Aponte, Costa Rica’s Deputy Minister of the Presidency on Political Affairs and Citizen Dialogue; José Molinas Vega, Paraguay’s Minister of the Technical Secretariat for Economic and Social Development Planning; and Mari Kiviniemi, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD. He also met with the OGP’s civil society co-chair, Nathaniel Heller, to discuss key priorities for the future leadership of the OGP.

ParlAmericas, an independent network focused on enhancing democratic processes, hosted an event on the margins of the meeting, where the Minister delivered keynote remarks on the value of parliamentary openness and of  legislators championing open government efforts.

Canada also shared its perspectives as part of a panel session hosted by the OGP’s Legislative Openness Working Group, which included a discussion on public reporting on mandate letter commitments. 

Finally, Minister Brison took some time to meet with Canadian civil society representatives participating in the OGP Regional Meeting. Canada is committed to ensuring its OGP leadership reflects the ambitions and expectations of our partners outside government

Quotes

“A society-wide diversity of citizen participation is critical to developing strong open government policies, and measuring the impact of those policies is the key to sustaining them. Canada is honoured to bring these priorities to its co-leadership of the Open Government Partnership.”

The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board of Canada 

Quick Facts

  • Following the Americas Regional Meeting, Open Government Partnership government lead co-chairs agreed to work together to define key leadership initiatives focused on inclusion, with a particular emphasis on gender.

  • Regional meetings are typically held on a two-year basis in each of 4 global regions (Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe) with this year’s Americas Regional Meeting hosted by the Government of Argentina.

  • Canada has been a member of the Open Government Partnership since 2012, delivering country action plans with firm commitments on open government. As a member, Canada is also working on creating Canada’s 4th Plan on Open Government for 2018-20 through an open, participatory process.

  • The Open Government Partnership is an international government and civil society initiative that was launched in 2011 to provide a global platform for those committed to making government around the world more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.

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Contacts

Jean-Luc Ferland
Press Secretary
Office of the President of the Treasury Board
613-369-3163

Media Relations
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Telephone: 613-369-9400
Toll-free: 1-855-TBS-9-SCT (1-855-827-9728)
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