Open Manitoba

On the heels of a $555 million dollar deficit budget released by the Manitoba provincial government led by Premier Greg Selinger and Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk, I find myself in Winnipeg to speak to a CIPS chapter regarding Government 2.0 and how it is changing the way governments operate as they migrate towards a collaborative platform.

Interestingly, there were some folks in the room from very large organizations, including the provincial government.  As the nice folks I met here brace for impact regarding cutbacks, I believe they found the discussion around tax savings and government efficiencies related to an Open Government environment interesting.

I was told about some very interesting things happening here in Manitoba, I can see sparks of interest and some daylight regarding the use of Web 2.0 technologies and that is very cool.

The local Twitter community is not as active as ours in Edmonton but there are signs of growth from what I hear from locals.  I really enjoyed my stay here in Winnipeg, the people were welcoming and the city itself has some terrific architecture.  There’s a lot of pride here and from what I’ve learned, there is considerable interest in the idea of Government 2.0.  I’d like to say more but have to head to the airport to catch a flight.  I’m heading to Seattle today to attend OpenGov West.

What I will say is, people feel Premier Seliger is open to the idea of Government 2.0, so I say – Here comes Open Manitoba!