IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The City of Ottawa will try to cut costs and boost efficiency this year by allowing some employees to stop making the daily trek to their desk in an office building.

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.

Read more: Canada: Ottawa: City tries to cut costs by allowing employees to work at home

The City of Ottawa is joining with transit agencies in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to make smartcard technology a reality by 2010, the city said in a release Friday.

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.

Read more: Canada: Ottawa: City partners up for 'smarter' transit technology

The growing importance of inter-jurisdictional collaboration in service delivery framed a recent national meeting of federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers responsible for service delivery. As part of this November 2007 gathering in Halifax, deputies not only grappled in the immediacy of identity management challenges but also longer term trends pertaining to the future of integrated service delivery and more seamless governance for the public sector as a whole.

The context for more collaborative and integrative service delivery (ISD) stems from two inter-related streams of thought and reform that have now converged: first, a philosophy of citizen-centric governance and service that emphasizes performance over process; and secondly, the emergence of the Internet and new digital technologies that underpin electronic government (e-government) and widen opportunities for electronic service delivery.

Read more: Canada: Moving toward collaborative governance

Three Canadian cities - Edmonton, AB, Vancouver, BC, and Fredericton, NB - have been named among the world's 21 smartest communities as the result of their smart and sensitive use of technology to foster socioeconomic progress.

The three cities feature in the Smart21 Communities of 2008 list announced by the Intelligent Communities Forum's (ICF) recently.

New York-based ICF is a nonprofit think tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the broadband economy.

Read more: Three Canadian cities among world's "smartest" communities