![]() ![]() Think of, say, SaskTel, the publicly owned telecom company in Saskatchewan. Instead of the usual setup - that is, you get a free app like Facebook in exchange for offering up your data and seeing ads - you get a service provided to you by the government that exists to serve you. If apps and digital services are a basic part of life now, then perhaps the government has a role to play in offering publicly funded alternatives. The incentives are different: they aren’t trying to sell you stuff, or sell your information to other people who are. Because it is made by Environment Canada, the point of the app is to tell you the weather, not get you to buy a new car or sign up for a gym membership. Perhaps that’s why something as plain and everyday as the WeatherCAN app felt like such a revelation. It’s all perfectly legal and ordinary, but that doesn’t make it either desirable or good. Put another way: All those weather apps on your phone also track user behaviour to personalize which ads you see. As the company writes on its website, “Over the decades, we’ve accumulated a wide and deep pool of data that gives us insights into how to efficiently and effectively reach consumers.” The reason is that The Weather Network is actually owned by Pelmorex Corp, which not only runs weather services, but is also a sophisticated data company. ![]() ![]() More importantly, though, upon downloading the app asks you for age and gender, all so it can serve you ads and better know its users. Notifications bother you incessantly and the radar map - useful to see if you are actually about to be rained on - seems to barely work. The apps are fine, if occasionally frustrating. That’s it.Ĭontrast that with The Weather Network. Vitally, however, in addition to being a neat little app in its own right, WeatherCAN also has a very clear privacy policy: for obvious reasons, it knows your location and also what kind of device you use in order to troubleshoot the application. Imagine that: a free app, from your own government, that is not only effective but is actually good. Couple that with a widget for your home screen and even helpful little messages about general weather knowledge, and it’s a winner. It’s fast, it looks nice and, importantly, it is accurate. The great thing about the WeatherCAN app by Environment Canada is that it just works. Not only was the app just as good, it was also far less invasive - and left me feeling that perhaps the government can not only do things well, but has a role to play in our digital lives. Frustrated by how many apps on my phone tracked me and served ads, I decided to ditch the ubiquitous Weather Network app in favour of the one provided for free by Environment Canada. I had a pleasant surprise recently, though. While the delay is likely connected to pandemic-related staffing issues and backlogs, the lines feel like an uncomfortable reminder that our dealings with our own government can be frustrating, slow and simply bad. If you have paid any attention to the news lately, or walked down a busy city street, you have probably seen the staggering lineups outside Service Canada offices as people wait for their passports. ![]()
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