Governments around the world are committed to more actively engaging citizens in the democratic process. Ontario is no exception. The 2003 Throne Speech outlined the government’s commitment to democratic renewal to support open, honest, transparent and accountable government. One way to ensure this happens is to create more and different ways for citizens to participate in the policy development and decision-making processes of government.

To strengthen its citizen-centred approach to government, the province has begun to develop a strategy on citizen engagement. One component of this strategy is intended to expand the use of electronic channels, mainly the Internet, to help bring citizens closer to their government. The goal is to ensure citizens have access to a wide range of tools and information that will enable them to participate more fully in the democratic process.

Some e-tools for actively consulting with, and engaging, our citizens already exist in Ontario. For example, all significant environmental policy and program changes are posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry, which is available through public libraries and on the Internet. The government has also committed to consulting Ontarians on all major legislation and to introducing new ways for citizens to participate in the decision-making process. As a first step in achieving these goals, the government initiated the OPS Ideas Campaign in December 2003 to ask public servants for ideas about how to best serve the public. In early 2004, the government launched the Delivering Change: Budget Town Hall Campaign to call upon Ontarians to contribute their ideas for how government can work better for citizens.

How?
Constantly evolving software and hardware capabilities are opening new opportunities through which citizen engagement may be explored. Improved audio and video capabilities, along with voice recognition software, have the potential to allow all sectors of the public to access the government decision-making process in a significant way.

What might this mean?
Electronic citizen engagement may take many forms. Some of the possibilities could include, but are not limited to:

• Internet consultations on proposed law and/or policy
• “Town Hall” meetings via the Web
• open on-going dialogues on specific issues
• online remote voting for elected officials
• digital voting
  

Ontario is committed to becoming a world leader in e-Government, including connecting citizens to government. With new and innovative methods of communication, Ontario can make its government more simple, seamless, accessible, transparent and accountable for citizens.