Thank you very much, and good afternoon to the Honourable Shawn Murphy, committee chair; to the honourable members of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics; and to parliamentary staff.
Thank you very much for the invitation to address the committee, and thank you as well for making arrangements for me to participate by video conference.
The City of Edmonton is very pleased to have this opportunity to contribute to the committee's study on open government. The City of Edmonton is a global leader among municipalities regarding open government, whether through live or archived access to council meetings or through advances within our website regarding community-based information.
The city believes that the effective use of technology can enable public engagement and access to information. In addition to providing access to information, the city is also very focused on its responsibilities with regard to keeping private information private and secure.
Open government is now more than a trend; it has become a global movement. The governments of New Zealand, Australia, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom have demonstrated how new technology has enabled national governments to become increasingly open and accountable to their citizens.
Leading by example, Edmonton has greatly contributed to both open government and the open data movement in Canada. In March 2010 we were invited to Canberra, in the Australian capital territory--