Making government digital transformation happen in Canada: a look ahead

Governments across the world are working to make digital transformation happen in order to improve services for citizens and support government priorities. This transformation is not just about implementing technology; it requires getting the right skills, culture, policies, and processes in place to capitalise on the benefits of data, AI, and digital tools.

Following last year’s AccelerateGOV conference, held in Ottawa in December, Global Government Forum produced a report focusing on how to scale what works and overcome barriers to digital transformation. It is based on panel sessions, presentations and discussions from the event, which is organised by GGF, as well as a survey of 228 of the Canadian public servants registered for it.

The findings show that while digital transformation is advancing across Canadian government and beyond, some areas need to be strengthened and obstacles addressed. While there are clear strengths in areas such as technology infrastructure, data use, and emerging AI adoption, there are also foundational challenges that remain, including legacy technology, procurement and skills.

This chapter of the report sets out the next steps for digital transformation across the Government of Canada.

Read previous chapters of the report here:
Work in progress: analysing digital transformation in the Government of Canada

The technology foundations of government transformation

The foundational importance of people, skills and culture in digital transformation in government

Improving data, AI and evidence-led decision-making

Next steps

The conference looked ahead to next steps and priorities. Survey respondents ranked expanding the use of AI and automation as their top priority for the year ahead (64%), followed by upgrading or replacing legacy systems (44%), and enhancing data-sharing and interoperability (36%).

In terms of technology, AI is expected to have the biggest impact over the next five years, followed by cybersecurity technologies, cloud infrastructure, automation, and digital credentials/verification.

From vision to action

In closing AccelerateGOV, Dominic Rochon, then deputy minister and chief information officer of Canada, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat – now deputy secretary to the Cabinet (national security and intelligence) – discussed areas of focus for the year ahead. Within Canada’s highly federated system “there are many, many cooks in the kitchen” when it comes to delivering on digital, Rochon said. He therefore stressed the importance of prioritisation: “There is a need… to really focus where we can prioritise our resources and our talent, in order to really figure out what are the things that we want to fix first.”  

This is made more urgent by fiscal pressure, as many governments, including Canada’s, are required to become “ever more efficient and ever more productive with less resources”. Technology, particularly AI, is expected to play a key role in supporting this. 

“AI sits on top of a massive digital infrastructure that, frankly, is not functioning as efficiently as it should in the federal government,” Rochon said. “And we really need to get that right first in order to leverage AI.” 

He framed Canada’s digital ambition across three areas: policy, technology and people. On policy, many laws were written “pre-internet, let alone pre-artificial intelligence” and are now “not fit for purpose”.  On technology, he reiterated the challenge of legacy systems. But the hardest challenge, Rochon argued, is cultural and organisational. He stressed the importance of “leadership in government that understands the transformation that we need to go through” and reiterated that “artificial intelligence is not a solution looking for a problem”. 

Real transformation, he argued, requires first understanding the problems, then redesigning processes, and only then applying technology. With over 200 federal services – and many more across provincial and municipal governments – the goal must be a citizen experience that feels as seamless and trusted as modern banking. 

He concluded that transformation must proceed in deliberate stages. Government cannot modernise everything at once; it must decide “how much money do we have, how much capability do we have, and how do we prioritise what we want to modernise first” – whether passports, old age security or other core services. Government can then deliver visible success, build trust, and then move to the next priority.

Raj Thuppal, executive vice-president, Shared Services Canada (SSC), said the organisation’s priority is “moving out of the legacy and moving to enterprise solutions” in areas including connectivity, hosting, cloud, digital services and cybersecurity. He explained that SSC is also expanding into new service areas, including enterprise desktops, application hosting, and “sovereign AI capabilities… and AI capabilities for GenAI”, alongside improvements to foundational infrastructure.

He stressed that future government capabilities – including consolidated data, secure access controls and the use of AI in business processes – depend on a strong technology base. “We need the infrastructure foundation to be solid, and for us, that’s the priority to enable that for departments,” he said.  This includes looking at opportunities where “rather than every department going and acquiring capabilities platforms, it might be better for us to go and do it for them, and provide that as an enterprise service”.  The overall goal is enabling departments to focus on “business process modernisation… enabling the citizens to actually use more modern systems”. 

It’s clear that the focus for digital transformation is no longer on individual digital projects, but on sustained, enterprise-wide change in how governments design services, manage data, develop their workforce and make decisions. The findings from this report show that while significant progress is being made, it remains constrained by legacy systems, skills gaps, organisational silos and other factors.

At the same time, there is much more potential to unlock: AI, automation and modern digital platforms are already delivering productivity gains and service improvements, and public servants see further opportunities.

Realising this potential will depend on prioritising the right problems, aligning leadership and incentives, investing in people and platforms, and delivering visible results that build trust with both public servants and citizens. 

As emphasised by speakers throughout the event, in a period of fiscal pressure and rising public expectations, building this capability is no longer optional; it is essential for governments to meet their goals. 

Stay connected

The findings of this and other Global Government Forum research will provide the basis for further exploration of the issues identified through our ongoing programme of content, including events, research, training, newsletters and more. 

We welcome your feedback on the study and your insights on how you are addressing the challenges and opportunities identified.

Here’s how you can stay connected: 

▪ Share your feedback on the study and your insights on how you are addressing the challenges and opportunities identified. Please email Sarah Wray, research editor at Global Government Forum, at [email protected] 

▪ Sign up to our newsletter to stay in touch on our digital transformation content and opportunities for further collaboration. 

▪ Register for AccelerateGOV 2026, taking place in December in Ottawa

▪ If your organisation would like to partner with Global Government Forum on our research programme as a Knowledge Partner, please contact George O’Grady at [email protected]

Methodology

Global Government Forum surveyed 228 of over 4,000 delegates registered for the AccelerateGOV 2025 conference.  The majority (95%) were from Canada. The survey captured responses from a broad spectrum of civil service grades, providing a well-rounded view across seniority levels. Almost 45% of respondents were senior managers or above. The top professions were digital, data and technology; IT; and policy.  The survey has a margin of error of ±6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. This means that if the survey were repeated multiple times with the same methodology and sample size, the results would fall within ±6 percentage points of the reported figures in 95 out of 100 case.Methodology
Global Government Forum surveyed 228 of over 4,000 delegates registered for the AccelerateGOV 2025 conference.  The majority (95%) were from Canada. The survey captured responses from a broad spectrum of civil service grades, providing a well-rounded view across seniority levels. Almost 45% of respondents were senior managers or above. The top professions were digital, data and technology; IT; and policy.  The survey has a margin of error of ±6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. This means that if the survey were repeated multiple times with the same methodology and sample size, the results would fall within ±6 percentage points of the reported figures in 95 out of 100 case.