Sturgeon River-Parkland MP Dane Lloyd has been appointed to federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s shadow cabinet.
Lloyd will be serving as the Conservative critic for Digital Government and said he is excited to take on the role.
The MP said it is extremely competitive to get into the shadow cabinet.
“I was tremendously honoured to be thought of and to be included. Digital government is an important ministry,” Lloyd said.
“As people are staying at home, as Service Canada’s centres are shut down across the country, Canadians need to use government websites and information technology to access critical services. And so we need to ensure that … those services are secure and we need to ensure that they’re accessible,” Lloyd said.
The MP said it is important to ensure rural residents are able to access digital services.
One of the big priorities on the file right now is making sure members of the civil service have the technology available to work from home.
Right now, Lloyd said only around 10 to 20 per cent are able to work from home due to servers being overwhelmed.
The Digital Government ministry was originally a sub-ministry under the Treasury Board but has been recently broken out to stand on its own.
Lloyd said the ministry touches all other ministries, as there are elements of digital governance in areas including health, national revenue and immigration.
“We’re digitizing functions of every department so I’m going to have to be working with a lot of my colleagues on every file and dipping my toes into every aspect of how we do government,” Lloyd said.
Jennifer Henderson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette
