VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/23/13 -- The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, today celebrated International Open Data Day by participating in a Speed Dating session with Vancouver Open Data developers and city officials.

International Open Data Day is a Canadian-inspired event created by Vancouver-based Open Data speaker and public policy entrepreneur, David Eaves. The event, which this year was celebrated in 88 cities around the world, brings together Open Data enthusiasts to brainstorm about how to turn raw, government data into user-friendly applications.

"Our Government is committed to capitalizing on the possibilities Open Data offers to drive innovation and provide economic opportunities," said Minister Clement. "David Eaves and today's organizers have done a great job to further the cause of Open Data by helping to connect the producers of data with the innovators who can turn it into usable, productive information."

In October, Minister Clement announced that the Government of Canada would be relaunching its open data portal www.data.gc.ca based on a new open source platform that will feature new search and interactive tools. The portal, which was launched in March 2011 as a pilot project, now houses some 273,000 datasets from 22 government organizations.

"While Open Data has been community driven, one of its key goals has been to encourage more exchanges between governments and open data users, whether they are citizens, companies or non-profits," said David Eaves. "We are excited that Minister Clement chose to spend Open Data Day with us in Vancouver to hear a bit about what this community is hoping to see from the federal government."

In the coming weeks the Government of Canada will be launching a series of consultations on Open Data and the new platform. The Government will host an online consultation and a series of roundtables in five cities across Canada to discuss Open Data opportunities with developers and Open Data advocates. Minister Clement will also participate in a Google Hangout on Open Data.

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