Minister Clement Participates in Tweet Chat on Proposed Open Government Licence

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 11, 2012) - The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, today participated in a Tweet Chat with open data innovators, developers and entrepreneurs to solicit feedback and share ideas about the Government's proposed new Open Government Licence aimed at making it easier to download and reuse government data.

The proposed Licence, which will govern the attribution of datasets downloaded from the Government's Open Data Portal, is modeled on international best practice. It offers unrestricted reuse of government information and makes it easier to create data mashups from multiple sources.

"Our Government wants to make it as easy as possible for Canadian entrepreneurs and innovators to turn government data into user-friendly applications," said Minister Clement. "Input from Canadians and businesses is vital to getting this initiative right."

In March 2011, the Government launched its Open Data Portal (data.gc.ca). This one-stop shop for federal government data now contains more than 273,000 datasets from 22 departments and agencies. The data ranges from statistics on building permits and wait times for non-emergency surgeries by province to pollution emissions and border wait times.

The key to the portal's success is providing both relevant and user-friendly information that Canadian entrepreneurs, academics, think tanks and application developers can transform into new information products and innovative applications that benefit Canadians.

"Just two weeks ago I had the privilege of participating in a news conference capping off Startup Canada's cross-country national tour celebrating Canadian entrepreneurship," said Minister Clement. "Connecting entrepreneurs to each other and to this type of information is how our Government helps encourage innovation."

The proposed Open Government Licence is available for feedback at www.data.gc.ca until February and is expected to come into effect later in the year.

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