Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures (CA0038)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Canada, Second Action Plan, 2014-2016
Action Plan Cycle: 2014
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Fiscal Openness, Publication of Budget/Fiscal InformationIRM Review
IRM Report: Canada End-of-Term Report 2014-2016, Canada Progress Report 2014-2015
Starred: No
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Public Accountability , Technology
Implementation i
Description
The Government of Canada will publish expanded information and data on federal
spending to help Canadians understand, and hold government accountable for, the use of public monies.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
Commitment 9. Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures
Commitment Text:
The Government of Canada will publish expanded information and data on federal spending to help Canadians understand, and hold government accountable for, the use of public monies.
One of the most important things Canadians want from their government is information on how their tax dollars are being spent. The budget and expenditures process can often be unclear to citizens, and it is the government's responsibility to make every effort to ensure that taxpayers understand how their money is being spent.
Canada has demonstrated clear leadership in providing Canadians with access to information on government expenditures. Since 2003, federal departments and agencies have proactively disclosed information about government operations on their websites (e.g., travel, contracts, hospitality expenditures) to allow Canadians and Parliament to better hold the government and public sector officials to account. Proactively disclosed information is currently fragmented, since it is published on more than a hundred individual departmental websites. Under our new action plan, Canadians will be provided with single-window access for searching and comparing this information across government.
To ensure that Canadians have the information they need on government finances and expenditures, we will provide enhanced online tools that give a clear picture of the financial expenditures of federal organizations. These tools will provide innovative visualizations of data, interactive infographics, and public reports released as interactive documents. Using these tools, Canadians will be able to track government spending by departments and agencies over time, and more effectively compare and contrast expenditures across departments.
Deliverables to be completed in 2014-16:
- Launch a new interactive online service that enables Canadians to review and visualize federal spending broken down by department, and to compare expenditures across departments. Consultations with Canadians will be completed to test and ensure the effectiveness of this new online service.
- Provide single-window, searchable access to information that is proactively disclosed by departments and agencies (e.g., travel and hospitality, contracts, grants and contributions).
- Standardize procedures for publishing mandatory proactive disclosure information by federal departments and agencies.
- Make all data from charts and tables in Budget 2015 available in machine-readable formats to facilitate analysis by citizens and parliamentarians.
Responsible institution: Treasury Board Secretariat
Supporting institution(s): None
Start date: November 2014 End date: 30 June 2016
Commitment Aim:
The aim of this commitment is to increase transparency and accountability by providing Canadians with additional information and data related to the spending practices of the federal government.
STATUS
Mid-term: Substantial
As was detailed in the mid-term report, a new online tool—the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) Infobase—for visualizing federal spending was launched in April 2015. It is “a searchable online database providing financial and human resources information on government operations.”
The first phase of the proactive disclosure portal, the second milestone under the commitment, was launched in November 2014 in the form of the Search Government Contracts service detailed under the eighth commitment of this second action plan on Open Contracting (see the previous commitment above). The third milestone was completed.
End of term: Substantial
The first milestone is complete, as the TBS Infobase was not only established, but also enhanced to include a range of options for users to view and explore government spending information. They can view infographics, search information by department, and create a dashboard that provides information using a range of different visuals. The second milestone is still limited in completion and has been rolled into the next action plan.
Did it open government?
Access to information: Marginal
The TBS Infobase does not provide new information, but does repackage existing information and makes it more accessible and understandable by providing visualization and comparison features. While much of the data provided on the TBS Infobase is available for download via open data, it is not on the TBS Infobase page itself.
Providing the open format on the TBS Infobase site, instead of prompting users to leave the site in search of downloadable formats, would enhance the usability of the new service.
The proactive disclosure portal is too limited in completion to have made any significant difference in the openness of government. There is confusion around the “single window” referenced in this commitment. At the mid-term mark, government interviewees had indicated that the Search Government Contracts service, outlined in the eighth commitment, would provide a platform that can be built on to allow searchable access to other categories of information detailed in the federal proactive information disclosure policy. However, the Search Government Contracts service is not the “single window” detailed in the commitment. Information provided to the IRM researcher at the end of term also notes that completed access to information requests are searchable via the open.canada.ca website. This leads to confusion over where the “single window” resides.
The Canadian government published data from the 2015 federal budget. Charts and tables from the 2015 federal budget are accessible on the open.canada.ca website. Users can download data tables in both official languages (French and English) in either .CSV or Excel formats. Additionally, the federal budget document is available in French and English in PDF format. Although this milestone only stipulated the provision of 2015 budget information, the government released charts and tables from the 2016 budget. However, there is, as yet, no indication that civil society or data users consider the TBS Infobase to have significantly changed openness.
Public Accountability: Marginal
Budget and spending information allows citizens to better track the use of their tax money. This commitment allows users to assess that information in a way, which can make it more accessible and understandable. However, it is too early for accountability results to come from this information – so far, the commitment has only enabled government practice to be subject to future accountable actions.
Carried forward?
This commitment, particularly the second (incomplete) milestone, has been carried into the next action plan. Commitment 10 of the third national action plan is to increase transparency around budget and other department of finance information. Milestones include:
- Starting with Budget 2017, make all data from budget charts and tables available in near real time to facilitate analysis by citizens and parliamentarians.
- Post publicly the list of briefing note titles prepared by Department of Finance officials on a regular basis, in order to be transparent about issues raised.
- Explore options to increase the transparency of the budget pre-consultation process. Government of Canada, Third National Action Plan, http://open.canada.ca/en/content/third-biennial-plan-open-government-partnership
Commitments
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User-Friendly Open Government
CA0064, 2018, Access to Information
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Financial Transparency and Accountability
CA0065, 2018, Access to Information
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Corporate Transparency
CA0066, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Digital Government and Services
CA0067, 2018, Automated Decision-Making
-
Open Science
CA0068, 2018, Access to Information
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Healthy Democracy
CA0069, 2018, Civic Space
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Access to Information
CA0070, 2018, Access to Information
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Feminist and Inclusive Dialogue
CA0071, 2018, Capacity Building
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Reconciliation and Open Government
CA0072, 2018, Access to Information
-
Open Government Community
CA0073, 2018, Access to Information
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Enhance Access to Information
CA0042, 2016, Access to Information
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Streamline Requests for Personal Information
CA0043, 2016, E-Government
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Expand and Improve Open Data
CA0044, 2016, Access to Information
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Provide and Preserve Open Information
CA0045, 2016, E-Government
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Define an Approach for Measuring Open Government Performance
CA0046, 2016, Capacity Building
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Develop Open Government Skills Across the Federal Public Service
CA0047, 2016, Access to Information
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Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy
CA0048, 2016, Capacity Building
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Enhance Access to Culture & Heritage Collections
CA0049, 2016, Capacity Building
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Enhance Openness of Information on Government Spending and Procurement
CA0050, 2016, Capacity Building
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Increase Transparency of Budget and Other Department of Finance Information
CA0051, 2016, Capacity Building
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Increase Transparency of Grants and Contributions Funding
CA0052, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Improve Public Information on Canadian Corporations
CA0053, 2016, E-Government
-
Increase the Availability and Usability of Geospatial Data
CA0054, 2016, Access to Information
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Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)
CA0055, 2016, Capacity Building
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Stimulate Innovation through Canada’s Open Data Exchange (ODX)
CA0056, 2016, Access to Information
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Align Open Data Across Canada (Open Data Canada)
CA0057, 2016, Access to Information
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Implement the Extractives Sector Transparency Measures Act
CA0058, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Support Openness and Transparency Initiatives Around the World
CA0059, 2016, Access to Information
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Engage Civil Society on Open Government
CA0060, 2016, Public Participation
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Enable Open Dialogue and Open Policy Making
CA0061, 2016, Capacity Building
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Promote Open Government Globally
CA0062, 2016, Access to Information
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Engage Canadians to Improve Key Canada Revenue Agency Services
CA0063, 2016, Access to Information
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Implement Directive on Open Government
CA0030, 2014, Access to Information
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Open Data Canada
CA0031, 2014, Access to Information
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Canadian Open Data Exchange (ODX)
CA0032, 2014, Access to Information
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Open Data for Development
CA0033, 2014, Access to Information
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Open Data Core Commitment
CA0034, 2014, Access to Information
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Open Science
CA0035, 2014, Science & Technology
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Mandatory Reporting on Extractives
CA0036, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Open Contracting
CA0037, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures
CA0038, 2014, Fiscal Openness
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Digital Literacy
CA0039, 2014, Capacity Building
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Open Information Core Commitment
CA0040, 2014, Access to Information
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Consulting Canadians
CA0041, 2014, Marginalized Communities
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International Aid Transparency Initiative: Publish Plan to Make CIDA Activities Available and Accessible
CA0010, 2012, Aid
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International Aid Transparency Initiative: Implement Plan
CA0011, 2012, Aid
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Opening Government of Canada Records: Increase Access to Archived Federal Documents at Library and Archives Canada
CA0012, 2012, Records Management
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Opening Government of Canada Records: Issue New Mandatory Policy on Document Classification
CA0013, 2012, Records Management
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Opening Government of Canada Records: Make Classified Information Available Online
CA0014, 2012, E-Government
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GCDOCS: Deploy Wave One of Electronic Record and Document Management Solution
CA0015, 2012, E-Government
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GCDOCS: Deploy Across Federal Government
CA0016, 2012, E-Government
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GCWEB: Develop Consolidated Web Presence
CA0017, 2012, E-Government
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GCWEB: Implement New Platform
CA0018, 2012, E-Government
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Data.Gc.Ca: Expand Number of Datasets Available
CA0019, 2012, Access to Information
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Data.Gc.Ca: Implement Data.Gc.Ca Portal
CA0020, 2012, Access to Information
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Data.Gc.Ca: Improve Standardization of Data
CA0021, 2012, Access to Information
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Government of Canada Resource Management Data: Publish Resource Management and Performance Data
CA0022, 2012, Access to Information
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Government of Canada Resource Management Data: Enhance Search and Data Tools
CA0023, 2012, Access to Information
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Consulting Canadians: Develop New Platform for Consultation
CA0024, 2012, E-Government
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Consulting Canadians: Develop Standard Approach to Use of Social Media
CA0025, 2012, E-Government
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Consulting Canadians: Pilot a Crowdsourcing Initiative
CA0026, 2012, E-Government
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Consulting Canadians: Enable Use of Common Online Tools
CA0027, 2012, E-Government
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Open Regulation: Federal Regulators to Post Forward Regulatory Plans
CA0028, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
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Open Regulation: Simplify Engagement Activities
CA0029, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
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Open Government Directive: Issue Directive on Open Government
CA0001, 2012, E-Government
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Open Government Directive: Implement Directive on Open Government
CA0002, 2012, E-Government
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Open Government Licence: Issue Open Government Licence
CA0003, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
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Open Government Licence: Adopt Open Government Licence
CA0004, 2012,
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Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Pilot of Online Request and Payment Service
CA0005, 2012, Access to Information
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Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Implement ATI Solution
CA0006, 2012, Access to Information
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Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Make Completed ATI Request Summaries Searchable
CA0007, 2012, Access to Information
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Virtual Library: Begin Design of Virtual Library
CA0008, 2012, E-Government
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Virtual Library: Launch Virtual Library
CA0009, 2012, E-Government