There is a huge focus
on making government transactions available on the Internet. While
you need these basic building blocks to make self-service government
work, recent feedback shows that information is, and will likely
remain, the most common reason for visiting our websites and portals.
Canadians embrace self-service experiences that they trust, and
find convenient, simple, and secure. They want anonymous access
to on-line government services and they want the information to
be up-to-date and accurate. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?
In time we will get beyond the technical hurdles of creating secure,
confidential on-line transactions. The real work is in two areas:
maintaining up-to-date information, and going beyond our organizational
boundaries to make services available to the public. Maintaining
accurate information is a management problem. Having seamless government
services portals is a political problem. Don't lose faith - we eventually
did it with the blue pages in the telephone book.
Public consultation in a non-electronic world is difficult and expensive
to undertake, and often reaches few of the intended recipients.
Broadband Internet services open the door to virtual City Halls
where people participate in local government issues from home, at
a time that is convenient to them.
The public sector wants to promote on-line self-service as the way
to provide better service to the public. For this to work, it really
has to be a better, faster and more efficient service.
