First elected in 2003, the Hon. Deb Matthews has represented the riding of London North Centre at Queen's Park for over a decade. She has served as Minister of Children and Youth Services, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, and became Deputy Premier in 2013.

Matthews says she's delighted to be co-chairing this year's Canadian Open Dialogue Forum alongside the Hon. Wayne Wouters, former Clerk of the Privy Council. She sees open dialogue as an opportunity for government to reach out and engage the users of public programs and services and provide opportunities for them to weigh in on decision making, which then leads to improved policy, programs and outcomes for people.

"Open Dialogue represents a huge opportunity for our government," she says. "In our fast-paced and interconnected modern world, governments need help tackling some very complex challenges and citizens are ready to provide it."

Matthews mentions the Ontario Open Data Directive as an example. When the Government of Ontario posted the draft Directive online for public feedback, it was a first for government in Canada.

"As a result [of public feedback], we developed a better framework that reflected the needs of the people who use the data," says Matthews.

While she's looking forward to hearing Premier Kathleen Wynne's keynote on Thursday and to hearing from her federal counterpart, the Hon. Scott Brison, Matthews says she's most looking forward to "hearing from the tremendous group of people gathered at this forum — leaders in Open Government — on how we can move forward with open dialogue."

The Hon. Deb Matthews and fellow co-chair the Hon. Wayne Routers will be giving opening remarks on both days of the Forum, and on Day 2 from 1–1:20 p.m. they will lead a plenary session on the new participant-created draft core principles of open dialogue.

To attend the Forum and engage in the dialogue, register here.