This blog is a part of my body of research that seeks to analyse civil society's and academia's understanding of national security models from an academic perspective with a focus on Canada, Israel and the UK.
Showing posts with label Canada and Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada and Business. Show all posts
OTTAWA – Small businesses and a union representing professional public servants are raising fresh questions about the value and security of a federal government deal that is now underway with Bell Canada – worth up to $400 million over seven years – to restructure email services.
“I think it’s more about supporting their ongoing ideology about supporting corporate business,” said Debi Daviau, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. “And at one point, Canadians’ data is just there to be exploited.”
The contract, announced last June, is expected to convert 63 separate email systems into a single system with a “@canada.ca” email address for all government employees, including those who deal with requests for services from the public.
Treasury Board President Tony Clement says that the entire federal government strategy, which includes the consolidation of Internet services, will simplify services for Canadians.
“The whole idea about canada.ca is having a single portal with a super-duper search engine to eliminate the frustrations that Canadians have with having to go through thousands of websites to try to find the information required,” Clement told Postmedia News. “This is responding to citizens’ complaints, I think very valid ones, and it’ll make it a lot easier to search for the answers that they seek from government.”
Shared Services Canada estimated in June that the contract would save the government about $50 million per year starting in 2015-16, but Clement said savings were not the main objective.
“Well, it’s not designed for that particular purpose, but we do believe it will certainly save time for citizens as they are seeking answers,” Clement said. “And certainly, when you look at reducing the number of email platforms and the number of data centres, that is savings in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
A spokesman for Bell Canada said Monday that he was working on responding to questions from Postmedia News.
In a speech last October, Public Works Minister Diane Finley, the federal minister responsible for the email transformation program, said the government was going to the private sector to prevent problems, noting that a special federal task force was also in place to monitor the situation.
Finley stressed that there was “no place” for untrusted equipment and services in federal government networks and that a special security task force was also in place to monitor the situation.
“We know this is risky business with a lot at stake,” she said in October. “From day one, the idea was to learn from the many other governments and major corporations that have already gone the shared services route – to learn from their successes and their shortcomings. The idea was to learn from private sector tech sector leaders who understand what current and emerging tech tools and strategies can deliver.”
Daviau said her union has been advocating for standardization of emails for years and believes that it is a “smart business” decision. But she suggested that public servants could have implemented the plan with existing resources.
“I’m not sure the goal is what Tony (Clement) says it is,” said Daviau in an interview. “That task could have easily been completed by the existing staff in government. So why the $400 million? It’s not clear.”
She warned that deals of this nature with the private sector could lead to cost overruns, similar to the problems surrounding a recent Internet website project pursued by the Obama administration to promote its health-care plan.
She added that each level of contracting or subcontracting could also result in watered down security.
“We think it’s extremely risky in terms of the security of Canadians data,” said Daviau. “As public servants we’re security cleared and have an oath of loyalty.”
Jeff Lynt, the lead consultant at an information technology firm – inRound Innovations – in Ottawa, said the email deal shouldn’t be used as a model for other services, since it forces firms to make deals with large corporations such as Bell Canada to get contracts instead of dealing directly with the government.
“We know that in these mega-contracts when things go wrong, you just keep throwing money at it,” said Lynt, who also chairs a national coalition of small IT firms.
He also said he supported the overall goal of consolidation, but didn’t approve of the competition process which set conditions on the size of firms that could bid on the project, while inviting only four large corporations, Bell Canada, Dell Canada, HP Canada and IBM Canada, to participate. He suggested that bidding processes could be more effective if they have more of a focus on performance standards with more flexibility on who is allowed to submit bids.
“I just don’t see the justification of throwing everything but the kitchen sink into one big contract,” said Lynt. “There’s no justification for only one supplier to do this.”
Photo (left to right): Minister Fast and Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago.
January 17, 2014 - Chicago, Illinois - The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, meets Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and former White House chief of staff, during a visit to the windy city.
The Minister and the mayor discussed the strong commercial ties between Chicago and Canada —Canadian-owned businesses operating in the Chicago area directly employ more than 24,000 Illinoisans.
Minister Fast invited the mayor to lead a trade mission to Canada and highlighted Canada's numerous investment advantages and rock-solid economic fundamentals.
Minister Fast, along with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, is in Chicago today to discuss the productive commercial relationship between Canada and the United States and to advance the Beyond the Border Action Plan. In addition, the Minister is holding a number of high-level private and public sector meetings to advocate for Canadian businesses and encourage U.S. investments in Canada.
Minister Fast Advances Beyond the Border Action Plan and Canadian Commercial Interests in Chicago
Creating new jobs and opportunities for Canadians the Harper government's top priority
January 17, 2014 - Chicago, Illinois - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker in Chicago today to reaffirm their shared commitment to the Canada-U.S. Beyond the Border Action Plan.
The two noted the results achieved during the past two years under the Beyond the BorderAction Plan and restated a commitment to support their leaders by directing officials to redouble efforts to fully implement the initiatives to continue to create jobs and economic growth while ensuring shared security and prosperity.
The Declaration on a Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, and its accompanying Beyond the Border Action Plan, announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama in 2011, are invaluable tools for developing innovative approaches to cooperation and border-clearance processes that will generate benefits for workers and businesses in both countries and enhance the North American production platform and enable it to soar to new heights within the fiercely competitive global economy.
Delivering on the Beyond the Border Action Plan initiatives is vital to strengthening economic competitiveness and securing increased flows of prosperity-generating goods, services and people. Minister Fast and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Pritzker are committed to achieving the long-term objectives of the Beyond the Border vision, by deepening engagement with stakeholders to further strengthen the Canada-U.S. partnership, the greatest economic relationship the world has ever known.
Quick Facts
The value of Canada-U.S. bilateral trade in goods and services surpassed $742.5 billion in 2012, with over $2 billion worth of goods and services crossing the Canada-U.S. border every day—more than $1.4 million traded every single minute.
More than 70 percent of Canada's exports go to the United States. Canada is the number one destination for exporters in 38 U.S. states.
Two-way merchandise trade between Canada and Illinois was worth $57.3 billion in 2012, more than double the total value of trade between Canada and the United Kingdom, Canada's fourth-largest national merchandise trading partner.
Canadian companies, in 17,000 U.S. locations, employ a total of more than 675,000 Americans.
Illinois is the largest export destination for Canadian crude oil—the bulk of which goes to Midwestern refineries.
Quotes
"In our discussions, and in wider consultations with key industry and business leaders, we committed to deepening our engagement with Canadian and American stakeholders as we continue to move the Action Plan initiatives forward, recognizing that Canada and the United States have the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world, with two-way trade in goods and services surpassing $700 billion in 2012, supporting millions of jobs in both countries." - Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade
"U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and I noted that with more than 100 ports of entry, as well as our highly integrated supply chains, removing red tape and streamlining processes to ensure the efficient movement of people and goods are crucial to the daily lives of our citizens, the health of our communities and the competitiveness of our economies." - Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade
Rudy Husny
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade
613-992-7332
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
613-995-1874 media@international.gc.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @Canada_Trade
