Stop, Collaborate and Listen: An Assessment of Canada‘s Open Dialogue Implementation Strategy

Authors

  • Jim Boyle School of Public Administration, Dalhousie University

Keywords:

open source, metagovernance, consultation, collaborative digital governance

Abstract

As part of Canada‘s Action Plan on Open Government, the federal government has adopted a policy activity stream of Open Dialogue to engage stakeholders in the policymaking and regulatory processes. This is an essential step in moving towards a system of decentred collaborative metagovernance to meet the demands of a rapidly changing governance structure, but a policy is only as good as its likelihood of successful implementation. Utilizing the implementation assessment framework of Mazmanian and Sabatier (1981), this paper explores the chances for successful implementation of the Open Dialogue activity stream, concluding that the primary impediment is the structure of the Westminster system. The government‘s response to this impediment will determine their role in the burgeoning new governance system.

Author Biography

Jim Boyle, School of Public Administration, Dalhousie University

First year student in Dalhousie's Master of Public Administration/Juris Doctor joint degree program

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2014-04-03

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