By Matthew Tenney

The Quebec government, considered one of the most opaque in Canada, took a tentative first step toward transparency by unveiling a central website for provincial data.

The new open data portal, at donnees.gouv.qc.ca, is the province’s first shot at open government, the idea that democracy is strengthened when administrations are transparent and actively court the participation of citizens to solve public problems.

“It’s great that they took this step, it’s a move in the right direction,” said David Eaves, a Vancouver-based open data advocate who advises governments on openness.

“But they shouldn’t say they’re done. It’s too early to tell how good the portal will be.”

The website launched with about 70 data sets, many of them statistical tables that were already available on the website of the Institut de la statistique du Québec.

Read more: Quebec unveils central website data