In an official report from Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Mark Mayrand, on the 41st General Election of May 2nd, Mayrand has announced Elections Canada’s pursuit of electronic voting.
Mentioning the fact that Canadian society continues to experience rapid change, Elections Canada has seen expectations of more convenient government services. Along this line in general, Canadians are increasingly expecting to be able to conduct business online. Thus Elections Canada has been pursuing the option of providing e-services, says the report.
The government plans to consolidate 100 different email systems into one government-wide email system, reduce the number of data centers from 300 to 20, and streamline over 3,000 networks within and between government departments.
Canada is setting up a new entity called Shared Services Canada to oversee the consolidation and to provide IT services and security going forward. The new entity will be part of the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services. Shared Services Canada will consolidate the existing IT resources and personnel from 44 separate departments and agencies.
Read more: Canada consolidates IT systems to boost security, save money
The new website marks a movement towards eGovernment and a shift to providing more services and information online. “Our citizens have said this is how they want to interact with their municipal government,” said David Watson, Calgary’s General Manager of Planning, Development and Assessment and Project Sponsor. Watson adds, “The upgrades we’ve made to calgary.ca have built the foundation for The City to support future advances in technology and will allow us to better serve and communicate with Calgarians for years to come.”
Read more: CA: Alberta: Website Revamp To Engage Residents Better – Calgary Leads
Log on to the City of Calgary’s new website and you won’t see the usual text-heavy, drill-down-the-tree-to-the-roots site favored by most governments.
The new $3.2 million website launched Monday is built around a Google search application and utilizes keywords that allow users to quickly access city information and programs, said David Watson, general manager, planning, development and assessment, and project sponsor.
Last week, we brought you the flip side of this argument--Deaconess Health System CIO Todd Richardson has pushed a device-agnostic strategy, allowing physicians to use their personal smartphones, tablets and other devices for work purposes.
Read more: CA: Ontario: 5 reasons hospitals should buy tablets for physicians