If you work in government, with government, or are trying to track down information on government programs and services in Canada, some of the most useful reference tools are government phone books. You can find out a lot more than just government employees and their phone numbers. You can often get a good handle on the organizational structure of different government departments, find out who is working on what and where they fit in the hierarchy.
We all have access to much of that information, and to those officials, now that most government phone directories are online. The federal government and all the provincial and territory governments in Canada, with the exception of Manitoba, Quebec and Nunavut, now have their government employee directories online. Manitoba and Nunavut have online directories with frequently called numbers.
The style, organization and scope of these telephone directories varies a great deal. Most make it very easy to find individual employees, their phone and fax numbers, and their office addresses. Gradually email addresses are being added. Many supply job titles and some form of link back to the relevant department or agency. PEI is a good example. Some, like Ontario, offer a method for browsing through the government organization structure. Others, like Saskatchewan, provide an list of frequently called numbers. These lists are especially useful if you're trying to find the department responsible for a particular service.
The best of the lot, however, is the Government of Newfoundland Telephone Directory. You can search using a number of different fields, browse through the government organization structure, get a quick list of frequently called numbers, find a list of Newfoundland government fax numbers and tie in to other related directories. It's updated monthly too.
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