PwC: Canadians want convenient government eservices

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

Citizen Compass, an online initiative undertaken by PwC to gather and measure the views of citizens on emerging public policy issues, shows that the next generation of eservices must accommodate the lives of Canadians, while meeting their expectations for quality customer service.

Sixty-two per cent of respondents are supportive of the idea of having a single identity card. Nineteen per cent of Canadians are willing to pay more to skip the line and receive their IDs more quickly. While Canadians said they are willing to share information, they expect information to be protected. They hold federal and provincial governments to the same high standards of accountability that they hold private institutions such as banks and credit card companies.

Michael Jordan, Public Sector and Government Services partner for PwC Canada comments:

“Canadians are asking why government can’t provide the same level of customer service experience online as banks or retailers,” he says.  “This pressure is on for governments to look at how they deliver eservices to meet Canadians’ demands while reducing costs.”

The research for Citizen Compass was conducted through a ‘Choicebook’, which took a randomly selected group of 3,147 Canadian respondents through an interactive online experience where they learned about government eservices and explored questions related to the issues. The second stage of the engagement process was the “Idea Forum”, where participants were given the opportunity to submit their ideas on what eservices they would like to have now and in the future.  The results are based on more than 3,000 respondents from across the country.