New Democrats push “open source” for innovation

OTTAWA – As part of an effort to make government departments more open and responsive to Canadians, the New Democrats have introduced a Parliamentary Motion (M- 587) calling for support for Open Source technologies.

“Under the Conservative government, Canada has fallen further and further behind when it comes to being an international leader on digital innovation,” said New Democrat Digital Issues Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins – James Bay). “To make bureaucracies more innovative and able to respond to the changing needs of Canadians, the federal government needs to get serious about open source technologies.”

As part of a much needed digital strategy, Angus’ motion calls on the government to be more open with online data that can be utilized by the public. He is careful to point out that support for Open Source and Open Data programs will, of course, need to take into account issues of privacy and national security.

“Digital culture offers us an immense opportunity to ensure that government becomes more responsive to public needs. While many municipal governments have already moved to innovative ‘open data’ programs, the federal bureaucracy remains stuck in 20th century red tape.”

The motion comes as software innovators are celebrating “Open Source Week”.