Moving Ottawa's Department and Agency Reporting Forward: Encouraging Accountability and Sustaining Reform

Governments produce a steady stream of data, reports, and other information to ministers, legislators, and the public, and generate enormous flows of administrative data. In the digital era the flows of information generated by departments and agencies have expanded by orders of magnitude. The paradox, though, is that much of this information is never used, but many decision makers believe there is insufficient information to meet their specific needs at any time. This note focuses on two streams of reporting by departments and agencies in the Government of Canada informed by “open government” principles—the streams of information supplied via the Canada InfoBase and other reporting, and the Management Accountability Framework—and considers if they are accessible and useful. After setting out options for making them both more useful, this note argues it will inform the work of spending reviews, Parliamentary committees, and engagement with experts and citizens.