The Canadian government has withdrawn its candidacy to join the Steering Committee that runs the Open Government Partnership.
The unannounced withdrawal is noted without explanation in the OGP website page about the upcoming election.
* = Canada withdrew their application for the OGP Steering Committee on July 10.
A statement provided by the Treasury Board Secretariat to FreedomInfo.org on July 22 said in part:
There are many countries looking to participate in the Open Government Partnership Steering Committee. Canada believes this leadership opportunity should be given to countries that will bring new perspectives to the discussion of Open Government, and allow the OGP to strengthen in other parts of the world.
The Government of Canada is confident that the OGP will be very well served by the other candidates to be elected to the Steering Committee through the current process.
The statement further reiterated Canada’s commitment to the OGP, said the government is releasing many datasets and points out that response times to information requests are going down despite increasing numbers of requests.
A June 13 letter from the Canadian about its candidacy had trumpeted its commitment to the OGP and Canadian accomplishments.
Eleven governments are competing for eight spots on the OGP Steering Committee — six incumbents and five governments seeking a seat for the first time, including Canada.
The voting among the 64 member governments began July 1 and ends July 30, with results to be announced Aug. 4. (See FreedomInfo.org report.)
A July 18 FreedomInfo.org request for comment from Canada’s OGP representative has not been answered.
Filed under: What's New