Minister Brison talks innovative funding models

(Fade in to Minister Brison standing in front of a white backdrop)

Hello – I’m Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board.

Our government is always looking for ways to get a bigger bang for your buck.

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To do that, we want to encourage public servants to think of new and better ways to serve Canadians.

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We’re experimenting with 3 new innovative funding approaches – all part of our government’s strong emphasis on innovation and experimentation.

• Number one, we have incentive-based models, which allow departments to pay for outcomes when they’re actually met.

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• Secondly, we have prize- or challenge-based approaches, in which payments go to those who find specific solutions to specific challenges.

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• And number three, we have micro-funding, which allows departments to give out small amounts of money to individuals for small but useful innovative projects.

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As we test and experiment with these new innovative funding approaches, we are focusing on results for Canadians that we can measure, and we’re not getting stuck in process or on individual components of a program.

Ultimately, it will pay off and get us better solutions to serve you better.

Let me give you an idea of the potential.  You may be left wondering why this wasn’t done before:

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Imagine:

• Why not offer an incentive prize to researchers who develop a new vaccine to tackle dangerous new strains of infectious diseases?

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• Tough challenges like homelessness stymie all levels of government. Instead of being stuck with the status quo, why don’t we put our money where the solutions are, or where they will be? New ideas that work to address chronic homelessness.

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Already, we’ve seen our innovative funding approach in action.

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 Environment Canada used innovative funding to give Canadian youth small grants to plan events for World Environment Day. These events are key for better awareness, which then brings changes in behavior, all to meet one of our great generational challenges: climate change.

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We’re excited to hear what other solutions will come out of these innovative funding methods.

And I’ll leave you with this:

We’re serious about experimenting, trying new things, constantly measuring what works, refining it, and then starting again.

It’s simply the smartest way to get better government.

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