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Chapter 7: Local and Intergovernmental Perspectives
- University of Ottawa Press
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Chapter 7 Local and Intergovernmental Perspectives The local perspective on e-government involves two interrelatedvantage points on public sectorgovernance. First, therearemunicipal governments pursuing their own e-government strategies both proactively and reactively within the realms of service, security, transparency, and trust. Second, thereis the matter of how citizens and communities co-evolve and interact from the front line of a public sector that seeks more seamless governance arrangements across jurisdictions and inclusive of all levels of government. This latter emphasis on interdependence and seamless coordination that defines what technologists refer to as afederated architecture (for the public sector as a whole) often runs counter to the traditional structures and culture of political federalism, a challengefurther complicated by the situating of local government within the provincial domain. The challengesof health care governance are illustrative in this regard:although formally aprovincial jurisdiction, the advent ofe-health creates pressures for reconciling local, provincial, and national dimensions of health care's adaptation to a more digitally and politically interdependent world. Section 7.1 of this chapter dissects the aforementioned dynamics within the realms of service and security, comparing local governments' pursuit of such objectives with those of provincial and federal governments and examining more closely how intergovernmental relations are evolving in a digital environment. Section 7.2 provides a similar undertaking within the realms of transparency and trust. Section 7.3 then considers how various federalist and multilevel systems of public sector governance are adapting to the e-government age, situating and critiquing Canadian arrangements within these comparative contexts. To probe more deeply into the Canadian environment, Ontario's recent experiences with e-health are examined in section 7.4 as an e-government subsystem within the confines of Canada's multilevel polity. Section 7.5 then concludes this chapter with a summary of the main findings. 168 E-GOVERNMENT IN CANADA 7.1 Service and Security Like their provincial and federal counterparts, Canadian municipalities have actively pursued e-government agendas over the past decade. A review of municipalities around the world reveals a sophisticated online presence via portals that are highly informative, easy to use, and functional in a variety of ways (Lenihan 2002d; Moon 2002; Melitskiet al. 2005; D. Norris 2005). Indeed, at first glance, there seems to be little difference with respect to the quality ofthe online portal between many large cities, provinces, and the federal government. In short, municipal e-government is well under way. With respect to purpose and performance aims sought through municipal portals, there is a recognizable emphasis on service functionality that reflects the citizen-centric principles so engrained in federal and provincial online service delivery strategies. For instance, most municipalities have organized their online portals around streams of common services defined by user type (e.g., resident, business, visitor, etc.) while also offering a set of 'life events7 or 'key topics' to facilitate quick and convenient navigation.1 For less obvious requests, site maps, search engines, and alternative inquiry methods (e.g., telephone or e-mail follow-up) are common characteristics of local government websites. In terms of specific offerings, portals are being utilized to offer a variety of services to local citizens. For instance, many municipalities now accept the online completion ofvarious permits, registrations, and reservations. Examplesinclude applications for business permits, online payment ofproperty taxes, pet registration, and recreational and other facility reservations.2 As with other government levels, the completion of financial transactions online is limited but growing, albeit in a manner correlated with population size.3 Manymunicipalities allowfor online payment for items such as parking violations, but the processing of larger amounts is more sporadic. In some cases, municipalities are able to circumvent the need to create such an in-house capacity(where the creation and maintenance of a secure architecture comprise a significant expense) by relying on indirect channels of online payment: Vancouver residents, for example, can pay their property taxes online via their financial institutions.4 [3.230.128.106] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 09:35 GMT) LOCAL AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL PERSPECTIVES 169 The early stage ofe-payments across Canadian municipalities is not out ofline with trends elsewhere, notably in the United States (Melitski et al. 2005). The unsurprising correlate of size reflects not only a larger and more sophisticated municipal government in terms of digital infrastructure but also the external attributes of the communities being served, as the concentration of broadband Internet access and use in urban dwellings creates some pressure for moving in such a direction relative to rural...