Is it Canada’s Estonia moment? A conversation with Joel Burke
A conversation with author Joel Burke about how to reboot a nation—and whether it’s Canada's turn
On the Functional Government Podcast, I sat down with Joel Burke — author of Rebooting a Nation and advisor to the US Senate on AI policy — to talk about Estonia’s extraordinary digital transformation, and whether Canada could follow the same path.
Estonia went from breakaway Soviet republic to digital pioneer in a generation. Citizens can do virtually anything online: pay taxes, register businesses, even file for divorce. Joel lived in Tallinn and worked on their digital residency program. He estimates the country saves 2% of GDP every year through digital services. If you spend any time around government modernization, someone will mention Estonia — this conversation goes deeper into how they actually did it.
Read the full writeup and show notes on The Functional Government Podcast.
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