What is Government On-Line?
- In the 1999 Speech from the Throne, the Government
of Canada made a commitment to become "known
around the world as the government most connected
to its citizens, with Canadians able to access all
government information and services on-line at the
time and place of their choosing."
- The Government On-Line (GOL) initiative is a key
component of the Government of Canada's service strategy,
which is guided by two principles:
- organizing services and information around the
needs and expectations of citizens and business
(client-centered); and
- taking a "whole of government" approach
to provide access to the entire range of government
services regardless of what channel is used (telephone,
in-person or web) or which department, agency,
or level of government is responsible for the
service.
- GOL is about using information technology to:
- make government more accessible, and serve all
Canadians;
- make on-line service better and more responsive;
and
- build trust and confidence in transacting on-line.
- It is a government-wide initiative with each department
having responsibility for implementing its own on-line
services while maintaining access for clients to traditional
modes of service delivery.
- The government has prescribed clear GOL outcomes
by 2005. Among them are: a common look and feel for
government web sites, access to integrated information
and services through Government of Canada web portals,
the availability of the 130 most commonly used services
offering various levels of on-line functionality,
secure transactions and an electronic payments capability.
Why GOL?
GOL was launched in response to increasing demands
by Canadians to make information and services available
on-line while continuing to provide services through
traditional modes.
- Canadians are among the world's most enthusiastic
users of the Internet (* except where noted, data
is taken from EKOS — Rethinking the Information
Highway 2003)
- More than 74 percent of Canadians now use
the Internet;
- 53 percent of Canadians expect that they will
do most of their transactions with the Government
of Canada over the Internet/e-mail in the next
five years;
- Canadian households with high-speed Internet
access now outnumber those with dial-up;
- 70% of Internet users have used a Government
of Canada Web Site in the past 12 months; (Citizens
First 3) 1.2 million Canadians visit the
Canada
Site every month;
- 34% of Canadians say their most recent contact
with the Government of Canada was via the Internet;
and
- Users of Government of Canada services on the
Internet report an 80% satisfaction rating of
these services.
- GOL will eventually save the government money. The
average costs associated with transactions with the
federal government, are in line with costs per transaction
of other large organizations:
- $30 per interaction in-person;
- $20 per interaction by mail;
- $10 per interaction by telephone, and
- $1 or less per interaction by the Internet.
- The Government of Canada conducts about 400 million
transactions each year. Savings will accrue as Canadians
and businesses increasingly use the Internet to complete
transactions.
Assuring security and privacy:
Secure Channel
- The Secure Channel Project is a multi-departmental
effort to build a secure foundation and a secure common
infrastructure for government electronic service delivery
dedicated to ensuring the security and privacy of
on-line transactions.
- All departments and agencies migrated to the Secure
Channel Network (SCNet) by the fall of 2003.
- Electronic authentication is a foundation of the
GOL initiative. Based on Public Key Infrastructure
(PKI) technologies, Secure Channel authenticates user
identity and provides an electronic credential that
can also act as a digital signature.
- Several federal departments are currently using
Secure Channel authentication services for their on-line
services. Over 200,000 citizens and businesses have
signed up for electronic credentials called ePass,
that gives them access to GOL services.
- In spring 2004, Secure Channel and Statistics Canada
completed a proof-of-concept for the 2006 Census.
Statistics Canada conducted a Census Test with a sample
group. Offering an on-line option was a world-wide
first for a national census bureau; more than 14,000
questionnaires were submitted using the on-line option.
The same technology will be used in the 2006 Census.
What is an ePass?
An ePass confirms that Internet users are who
they say they are, and assuring users that they are
dealing with the government organization with which
they want to deal. To get an ePass, clients validate
their identity using "shared secrets" (information
that only they and the department or agency in question
know); then they choose a user ID and a password. With
an ePass, clients can send personal information
through the Internet, knowing that only the intended
recipients will receive it. They can electronically
sign documents, making it unnecessary to go to an office
to complete a transaction. ePass also makes it
easier for clients to navigate between various on-line
services, as they do not have to register more than
once with each program or remember multiple passwords.
How is it going?
- For the fourth consecutive year, Accenture, an
international technology services and global management
consulting company, ranked Canada number one in terms
of its e-government maturity, ahead of 21 other countries.
Canada was the leader across all categories of e-government
maturity including service breadth, service depth
and customer relationship management.
- By the end of 2003, 45 services among the 130 most
commonly used services had reached their targeted
level of on-line functionality. All of the remaining
services are now partially on-line.
- Projects are progressing well and the Secure Common
Infrastructure has the potential to expand its reach
through service offering to Canadian provinces, where
discussions are underway.
What is next for GOL?
Full service transformation is the Government's long-term
goal and involves both a significant improvement in
the quality and the delivery of government services
to Canadians, as well as transforming the internal operations
of government to achieve efficiencies and increased
transparency.
In this last phase of the GOL mandate, the focus is
on completing the 130 most commonly used services and
the full implementation of the Common Secure Infrastructure.
Continuous improvement of service to Canadians will
remain a priority for the government.
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