8 Comments
User's avatar
campbell.macdonald's avatar

I think @gregorrobertson probably needs a strongly worded memo given his mid response and commitment to new housing

Expand full comment
SandraB's avatar

I really appreciate the talent and effort Build Canada puts in to identify improvements we can make. I realize Singapore is a small city/ state in comparison to Canada and people can argue how they operate isn’t relative to Canada. However I think we can learn a lot from them.

One thing I like is the salary of each senior government official is based on whether they meet their goals for the year . This includes how much they directly contributed to growing the economy. They have a way to define and calculate this. Potential salaries are also far higher than here for these positions because they are more incentivized.

Singapore also sends qualified government people to other countries for several months at a time to study best practices by directly talking to the private and public sectors.

Expand full comment
Build Canada's avatar

Agreed, they’re a great model to look towards! In the federal government, only executive-levels are judged based on service performance, and >97% meet their expectations and are given their at-risk pay or more. This is in spite of only a fraction of Canadians believing they get good value for services they receive from the government. We should be setting much more ambitious targets and rewarding those who deliver impact for Canadians.

Expand full comment
SandraB's avatar

Thx. It’s not surprising’ how our exec levels manage to meet > 97% of their expectations. The salaries in Singapore are extremely high for exec level. They start at $800K and go up from there. The presidents salary (that they set for themself as far as I know as they don’t report to anyone) is over $2 million per year. I see our $ has dropped in the past 15 months against the Singapore dollar. We’re now $1 Cdn = .93 Singapore.

Singapore is naturally even more reliant on imported food than we are. They have one person who is responsible for ensuring there is never a shortage of poultry. He travels virtually all of the time going regionally and beyond to primary and back up suppliers and to ensure they meet Singapore’s quality/safety standards. All very interesting IMO. (You can tell I find Singapore a very interesting place. Too bad the heat and humidity are too extreme.)

Expand full comment
Justin Swanson's avatar

For touting his record as a banker, then failing to produce a budget, expectations have become wishes.

Expand full comment
Mr. P.'s avatar

Do we know if the “Build Canada Committee” will work with Build Canada team here? Or just a naming happenstance!?

Expand full comment
Build Canada's avatar

We would like to think it is a bit more than happenstance. We are not directly involved but we would welcome the opportunity to work with them.

Expand full comment
Mr. P.'s avatar

Let's just hope these committees stay committed to the real solutions for the root cause!

Expand full comment