One day, the mayor of a Quebec city said to me: “We must not make our data public too quickly, journalists could use it against us. I confess to being completely stunned by this warning. In times like ours, conducive to fake news, we tell ourselves that this reflection makes no sense. On reflection, this mayor may have it all wrong on the form, perhaps he is not completely wrong on the merits. Let me explain.
Last Thursday, I had the chance to participate in the presentation of the results of a Franco-Quebec study on the use and management of data by cities. This study was carried out jointly by the French observatory Data Publica, the International Observatory on the societal impacts of AI and digital technology, the Uni-Cité Collaboratory of ENAP and the firm IPSOS. All this thanks to the valuable support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec and the team of the Office of the Chief Scientist of Québec.
This study tells us, among other things, that Quebec cities are unequal when it comes to data. Although the big cities still have a long way to go in this area, the medium-sized ones, but especially the small towns, are completely helpless in the face of this titanic task. They want to use data more to improve their decision-making and services to citizens, but they lack the resources and information to do so.
You wonder what data can be used to improve the performance of local governments. Say, for example, you have sensors connected all over your water and sewer system. You are then able to know, in real time, the location of the leaks, the state of deterioration of the pipe, the flow rate of water use and the pressure of heavy rains. This is therefore very valuable data to better plan your future work.
Go further. You install photographic sensors on the street brooms. By cleaning the city, you can get, in real time, the condition of the roadway and sidewalks. This way, you can better plan maintenance and repair work. Cross-reference this data with that of underground infrastructures and you will have an intelligent decision-making system that will save you time, money and quality of life thanks to better overall infrastructure repair planning.
Few cities can afford these systems, which require a lot of money and human resources. This is what the medium and small towns of Quebec say in the survey published last week. What can be done, then, to enable them to hope to participate in the great march of digital transformation? If I were being sarcastic, I would tell you above all not to take inspiration from the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec.
Quebec is full of researchers who can support these municipalities. Good news: we are fortunate to have a well-established network of universities and colleges in all regions. Moreover, to benefit from additional support, some cities have decided to have a chief scientist, like the Quebec government. Victoriaville has just done it, and Longueuil is about to follow. In Montreal, the file has been ready for four years, but the City is slow to move forward.
The pooling of data and digital tools can also be a solution. Other good news: for cities that do not have the means to have the necessary digital infrastructures, the Government of Quebec has provided them with a digital portal to submit their data for public access. In addition to offering a great opportunity for democratic transparency, this allows them to obtain data that can be useful to them. This data can also be used by researchers and businesses that want to generate innovation. Everybody wins !
However, cities are slow to use the portal due to lack of knowledge and training. In this regard, researchers can also come to their aid, as can the Union of Quebec Municipalities and the Quebec Federation of Municipalities. Large cities could also pool their resources with these cities and even work with MRCs to make the link with smaller cities more effective.
Faced with this surge of digital tools that use big data, medium and small towns are playing on unequal terms with private companies. The latter are essential partners in the digital transformation of local governments. However, they must be able to control and manage the digital tools available to them. To help them, the keywords are pooling, research and knowledge sharing. Finally, we must promote open innovation.
This brings me back to the famous statement of this mayor quoted above. If a city is not able to manage and use the data on its territory, how do you expect it to be able to answer questions from journalists once this data becomes public? Cities are not only unequal when it comes to data, they are also unequal in their ability to be more transparent.