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Government policies in Canada
The Canadian government is actively involved in promoting both domestic
and international e-commerce. On the domestic side, in keeping with its
"Connecting Canadians
Initiative," the government established an e-commerce strategy which
was incorporated in September 1998. The strategy involves the Federal
government working in consort with the provinces, the territories, and the
private sector to develop trust, clarify rules, and provide Internet
access. The strategy encompasses these seven key points:
- a technology-neutral taxation regime
- a policy on cryptography
- legislation governing the protection of personal information
- a legal framework for digital signatures and electronic documents
- guidelines for consumer protection
- a Canadian electronic commerce standards "roadmap"
- a policy framework for the Government of Canada's public key
infrastructure.
On the international side, Canada is working with other countries and
member nations of the Organization for Econimic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) for the growth of international e-commerce. In October
of 1998, the OECD conference on international e-commerce was held in
Ottawa.
The government has instituted the E-commerce Task Force as an entity
within Industry Canada as the primary focal point within the agency for
e-commerce development. [Strategis - Industry Canada's business Web
site]
Doing business with government agencies in Canada is a win-win
situation. The government gets better prices, 15 to 20 percent better, and
companies get motivation and assistance to go on-line. An e-commerce
intermediary, Cebra Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank of
Montreal, facilitates the process through its Internet-based service, Merx.
The service lists solicitations for bids from federal, provincial, and
municipal governments along with those of universities and other
organizations. The Merx site has been in operation for two years and has
connected about 35,000 Canadian companies with approximately 290,000
government orders. Merx provides for a level playing field for offerors on
government contracts, and the business they win provides e-commerce
trickle-down to other areas of the economy. To further facilitate B2B
e-commerce, Cebra also offers TotalTrade, a secure connection,
Internet-based service for exchanging orders, invoices, payments, and
other information. All that is required by the business is computers, Web
access, and about $35 per month to use the service. [Marron, Kevin, Where the real action is]
The Canadian government has added $1.8 billion over the next three
years in new spending for a knowledge-based economy. The spending is
supposed to encourage more research and innovation and will be allocated
to creating, disseminating, and commercializing knowledge, along with
hiring knowledgeable people to support the effort. A new job-creation
program will receive $465 million and $430 million will go to the Canadian
Space Agency. The knowledge spending is 10 percent of the overall new
spending in the government budget and is exceeded only by 65 percent which
is going to health care. However, a large portion of the health care
spending will be in knowledge-based areas of the medical field. [Tuck, Simon, 'Knowledge' spending to rise by
$1.8-billion]
The Canadian recently expressed a commitment to become the most
connected government in the world by 2004. The Information Technology
Association of Canada (ITAC), the voice of the Canadian information
technology industry, believes that, in the world today, what appears to be
a reasonable goal can be easily surpassed by the competition. In that
light, the organization praised the government's commitment but called for
acceleration of the target date by 21 months. That is for 80 percent of
major government departments and agencies to become a "model on-line
user" on or before March 31, 2003. ITAC provided recommendations to
aid the government in accelerating the date, including:
- "Create a champion of electronic government of the highest
level of government reporting to the Prime Minister's Office. That
champion should have a budget sufficient to effect strategic,
enterprise-wide change in the organizational culture necessary to
transform the Government into a knowledge-based institution.
- The e-government champion should produce an annual report to Cabinet
documenting the progress of each department.
- The champion should be advised by a cross sectoral board
representing business and civilian stakeholders.
- Accelerate implementation of the Government's public key
infrastructure.
- Implement the practice of analyzing all new legislation from an
e-government perspective, to promote the development of solutions that
are user-friendly and technology enabled."
[News Release, ITAC Recommends More Aggressive Pursuit Of Electronic
Government]
Federal Financial Assistance for Information and
Communications Technologies
Sources of Assistance - Regional Agencies:
- Atlantic
Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
- Canada Economic
Development for Quebec Regions
- Federal Economic Development
Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor)
- Western
Economic Diversification (WD)
CANARIE:
- Wireless Telecommunications R & D Investment Program
- Advanced Network Applications, Services and Technologies Program (ANAST)
- Advanced Applications Development Program
- Learning Program
DND/NSERC Research
Partnership Program
Information
Technology and Telecommunications Loan Program
Technology Partnerships
Canada
Knowledge-Based
Industries Loan Fund program
Technology
Inflow Program (TIP)
Technology
Partnerships Program
Program
for Export Market Development (PEMD)
Networks of Centres of
Excellence
International
Trade Personnel Program (ITPP) by Western Economic Diversification
Industrial
Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
Canada Economic Development Agency:
- IDEA-SME Program
- Loan Program for
Knowledge-based SMEs
- Loan Program for
Technology Firms
- SME Techno Access
Program
- INNOVATION,
R&D
Business
Development Bank of Canada
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