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""Of course we should know how our representatives are representing us, of course we should be able to see what's being done with our tax dollars," Mulley writes on the site. "But, as information and data become increasingly synonymous, making information available isn't enough. To be useful, it has to be usable. It has to be freely available, in a flexible digital format. It has to be open.""

Unlike the United States (data.gov) and Britain (data.gov.uk), Canada has no open data strategy. This must change. Canadians paid for the information gathered about our country, ourselves and our government. Free access to it could help stimulate our economy and enhance our democracy. In pursuit of this goal, this website is a citizen-led effort to promote open data and help share data that has already been liberated.

"Clearly data release can reduce fraud and curb unnecessary spending. The MPs' expenses scandal has stimulated more interest in this area but there are already websites dedicated to examining how public money is spent. Releasing full financial breakdown of spend can save millions, as a recent case in Canada proved. A $3.2 billion tax evasion fraud was exposed when financial data was made publicly available."

# They expected a new community to build itself. # They wrote their own license."