IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The corporate services and economic development committee has voted in favour of eventually eliminating paper agendas for council and committee meetings and using electronic agendas instead.

The motion, introduced by Mayor Larry O'Brien, came after the mayor's task force on e-government released its findings and recommendations on how the city can better use technology.

With Presto – a contactless, automated fare system developed with the Government of Ontario – the project will result in "significant savings" to the City of Ottawa, according to the release.

It's part of an electronic government initiative being cheered on by Mayor Larry O'Brien that is aimed at helping the city cut $100 million in operational costs over the next three years.

Mayor Larry O'Brien released an 82-page report yesterday on transforming the use of technology that he and a task force on e-government claim will make the city run more efficiently.

The report concedes the city's information technology branch is operating "reasonably well," but says it's also "clear that information technology is not having a significant impact on the city."

Specifically, the Mayor's task force on e-government recommends the city adopt a citizen-centric approach to technology that allows residents to access municipal services without staff assistance. The report also suggests any new project proposal requiring an increase in staff also contain a technology-oriented alternative and that technology expenditures be viewed as an investment in productivity with a long-term payback, rather than being looked at through the lens of the annual budgeting process.

The southwestern Ontario municipality has turned to paytickets.ca to handle parking fine payments via the Web.

The move lets the town get its feet wet in electronic service delivery without making a huge investment, says Gord Lalonde, Oakville's IT director.

Inspired by social-networking features, the new platform will let patients and their health-care providers input and share information in a high security, high bandwidth online database.

It's a move Telus chief executive Darren Entwistle said will "revolutionize" health care.

"All privacy legislation in Canada goes back to fundamental principles. Health care is special in the sense of the directness of privacy concerns," says Power, recently appointed vice-president for privacy and security at the Smart Systems for Health Agency.

Younker outlines his security concerns in his 2010 report made public earlier this week. That report also highlighted serious concerns about delays in implementing the program and significant cost overruns.

The program wasn’t supposed to cost taxpayers a dime. But costs have ballooned to more than $15 million for taxpayers.

Health Minister Carolyn Bertram says she’s legally bound by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPP) to keep the information secret.

But Bertram said if she’s asked to produce the documents in the P.E.I. legislature she will obey that request.

Some of P.E.I.'s spending on moving medical records from paper to computers did not go through a competitive bid process, a review by the auditor general shows.

The Electronic Health Records Initiative was a major focus of Auditor General Colin Younker's annual report, released Wednesday.

“Today we are launching our new searchable databases that will allow all Islanders electronic access to decisions which will affect their communities,” said Minister Bertram. “From now on, all appealable planning decisions from both the provincial and municipal orders, will be posted on our new database.”

A large section of the 160-page report examined the Electronic Health Records Initiative, a project to transfer health records from paper to computers, and allow health professionals anywhere in the country to pull up your personal health records.

"Electronic medical records are modernizing the way health care in British Columbia is being delivered," said Abbott. "We are working to make advances in technology benefit patients and help physicians - such as the doctors in Summerland - ensure that their patients are as healthy as possible."

Provincial Health Minister Theresa Oswald today announced a $6,000,000 pilot project called 'CareLink', that will enable patients making after-hours/non-urgent phone calls to doctors' offices and clinics to automatically connect with a Health Links provincial call centre.

The province has announced two new grant programs intended to help rural communities grow and adapt to change.

The Community Broadband Infrastructure Pilot Program and the Rural Community Adaptation Grant Program were launched last month with funding from Alberta’s $104-million share of the federal government’s Community Development Trust.

Mayor Larry O'Brien's task force on e-government has released its report with eight recommendations, including ensuring technology alternatives are considered to offset any direct or indirect increase in staffing levels when council directs staff to take action on a specific item.

"It's about using technology to improve services to people," said Henri-Francois Gautrin, parliamentary assistant to Liberal Premier Jean Charest. Gautrin said e-government will also help save money, estimating the province's Revenue Department will save $18 million a year because it's cheaper to process income tax reports online.