Dear Premier Wynne:When you launched our Open Government Team four months ago, you asked us to help you make Ontario the most transparent government in the country.As we gathered in Toronto last week to release our report, the story broke that David Livingston had secured illegal access to 24 computers in the Premiers' Office to wipe away incriminating emails on the gas plants.This cloak-and-dagger story is now the backdrop for our report on Open Government. It is also the context in which you, as premier, will consider our recommendations. I believe it makes the case for Open Government even clearer and more urgent.Over the last four months, our team travelled across the province to speak with experts and members of the public. Clearly, people want more open government. But what is it they want?Let's start with the high-tech sector. They say government has to make its datasets available to the public, especially businesses. Datasets have growing commercial value and governments have vast stores of them, from geomatics to public health.We fully support this and our report recommends steps to ensure datasets are not only made available and accessible, but that in future government recognizes them as the critical public asset they are.But this was only one part of our conversation. When we spoke to ordinary Ontarians, many talked about secrecy in government. In their view, Open Government should be about transparency. They want government to stop making so many decisions behind closed doors.Why don't ministers just tell the public what they think about issues and release the documents that shape their thinking, they asked?We heard no compelling answer and, as a result, our report calls for a major overhaul of the government's information framework, including new access to information legislation.Finally, we heard from people and organizations who want to see democracy working better between elections. For them, an open government must engage people in a discussion on issues of concern. We agree and have proposed ways to enhance democracy through a “public engagement agenda for Ontario," including the use of new digital tools.But in the end, our overall message can be summed up in three simple words: Open by Default, which is also the title of our report. If you heard nothing else about it, Premier, but embraced this one idea, our work would be done. Let me explain.Information is the critical agent in policymaking. It shapes our debates and conclusions. But, to speak frankly, governments tend to hoard information. This lets them use it however they wish to engineer the conclusions they favour. Modern democracies have done this since the beginning.But the pendulum is swinging. In an information society, hoarding information gets extremely difficult. There are too many links, networks, hubs and users to keep anything secret for long. Inevitably, information finds a ways to get out and, when it does, government is left to explain why it was ever hidden.The principle of 'Open by Default' turns this conventional thinking upside down. Instead of deciding that the best conclusions are those a government favours, the Open Government view is that government should favour the best conclusions.This, in turn, changes how it views the policy process. Instead of trying to control the outcome of public debate, Open Government focuses on trying to control the quality of the debate. And that is a major change.Making the release of information and data the default position helps ensure that public dialogue is genuinely informed. At the same time, open dialogue ensures it will be transparent, inclusive and evidence-based.Our report doesn't have all the answers, but we believe Open by Default provides the right foundation for the future. As Ontario moves into a new era of Big Data and the Internet of Things, it will be saturated with data and information. The old command-and-control structures of the 19th century must adapt.But you, Premier, must take the first step.There are those who will discourage you from this. They will say Open Government is politically risky and unnecessary—perhaps even fanciful. They will counsel you to be prudent and, given the circumstances, to do only what is necessary to regain control.I'd like to reply with a final recommendation, one of my own: Treat this conservative hand-wringing for what it is: small-minded fear of the unknown.In the end, Premier, it is up to you and you alone to decide whether this really is a moment in time when something new is possible—or whether it will be politics as usual.Sincerely,Don LenihanChair, Open Government Engagement TeamDr. Don Lenihan is Chair of the Ontario Open Government Engagement Team and Senior Associate at Canada's Public Policy Forum in Ottawa. He is an internationally recognized expert on democracy and public engagement, accountability and service delivery. Don's latest book, Rescuing Policy: The Case for Public Engagement is an introduction to the field of public engagement, a blueprint for change, and a sustained argument for the need to rethink the public policy process. The views expressed here are those of the columnist alone. Don can be reached at: [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at: @DonLenihan