Thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning, everyone.
Today, I will be presenting the findings of some research conducted by Université Laval, but first of all, I would like to thank the committee for this invitation. I'm very pleased to participate in your work.
I will briefly present a study on smart cities that was conducted in some of the cities around the world and in which I participated with a view to understanding the concept and adapting it to the Canadian context.
This study has shown that smart cities revolve around eight key concepts: technology, organization, politics, economy, governance, natural environment, existing infrastructure, as well as people and communities. My presentation will focus on this last aspect.
Today, we have many questions about smart cities. Earlier, we talked about citizen participation or civic engagement by explaining how citizens become co-creators of this infrastructure.
In co-operation with Quebec City and a non-governmental organization, we have tried to see how we can be more responsive to citizens. To this end, we have tried to develop smart tools. This is one area where investing in artificial intelligence would be beneficial. These smart tools are enabling the city to find out and analyze the needs of its citizens. The information is posted on Twitter, Facebook, dedicated platforms or discussion forums. This allows everyone to understand what people want without having to read the documents.
Today, citizen participation is problematic because people don't know whether they have been involved in the process, whether their opinions have been heard, and whether they have been taken into account.
If we are to build a smart city, not only is infrastructure necessary, but we must also place the citizens at the centre of this development. By so doing, people would express themselves and see that their opinions were considered. This would improve social life and also allow our cities to have local and international leadership. Our cities would become examples on the world stage. Their entrepreneurship and leadership would make them attractive.
Canada could take steps to strengthen co-creation with citizens so that the cities meet their needs and expectations. Technological infrastructure should be developed by integrating people of all ages and all social categories. This would require a change in governance. This would result in cities that listen to citizens, not cities that give orders to citizens.
In our research, we have noticed some barriers in this regard, both in Canada and around the world.
There is the issue of the digital divide. In some cities, 30% of people do not use digital platforms. There are also ethical issues with respect to the use of technologies, such as what people call tracking. Other obstacles are linked to a lack of political will. I turn to citizen participation again. So you have to get people involved in the process and some political will is needed to get there.
Measures that the federal government could take include support for the existing IT infrastructure. It must encourage innovation and co-creation while supporting civil society in its efforts to build smart cities that meet the needs of their citizens.
Thank you very much.