For the record I volunteered countless hours to help the city I believe in win the right to represent Canada. I never filed a single expense claim and was only involved in the domestic bid: which I am proud to say we won. Check your facts before you make accusations. I have published my name. I am proud of what I have accomplished. What have you done, brave man hiding like a cowering child behind a fake name.
You are the lowest of the low. A coward. Your opinion means nothing because it belongs to no one.
And yes I do beleive we should give this system a chance. But I also believe it is not enough to focus all the efforts on less than 10% of the budget and I stand by that and can back it up. When you get some courage to be an adult and a responsible member of society, let me know.
I am transparent. That would be why I post under my own name. I encourage others to do the same. I believe that all services governments procure should be sought at the best value for dollar. I believe that includes work performed under any payment scheme; contract, employee, hourly, piece work or any other form. If you read my original post, you will note I said that there is a wide range of experiences upon which to draw and that I feel strongly that focussing on any one format of payment is not the best way to drive efficiency. How you pay someone does not determine the value of their work.
As I said, when its been needed, I have, on two separate occasions, provided consulting services to government. I also said I would do so again if the right opportunity arose. I stand behind that work and the value for money provided.
I would also tell you that you wont' have to look very far within government to know that I have VERY often given freely of my time when asked, out of a sense of civic duty. There are many other consultants that do so as well. There are also consultants I know who have only worked for government for a very long time and who would find it impossible to find work in the private sector. These same statements hold true for employees.
The point here is simple: its time to focus on outcomes rather than inputs. That's one of the most tried and tested ways of delivering success.
Blitzen, note that I post in my own name and am an adult willing to stand behind and take full responsibility for my comments, opinions and suggestions.
I am also a consultant who has, on two occasions over the past 7 years done pieces of work, of which I am proud, for government. If the right opportunity presented itself, I would do so again. The lion's share of my business, however, is for the private sector in my areas of specialty which, generally speaking are technology and governance.
It has been my observation that most, but not all, consultants are hired for pieces of work and that they must complete those pieces of work to a certain standard in order to fulfill their contracts and be paid. When they work for government, they are generally paid below market rates for that work. There are no benefits etc paid to these people. I have witnessed contractors- real live human beings that live and work in this community- being asked to work in closets, in tiny cubicles and given appalling working conditions simply to assuage the union rules that state how many square feet of space employees need to have. I have also seen teams where you wouldn't know who was the worker or the contractor. It runs the gamut.
My point here is that to tackle the problem of runaway government spending that we can ill afford, we need to look at everything.
Many people think government workers are paid less than contractors. In my experience, this simply isn't true if you look at the fully loaded labour cost of two people in similar roles.
My comments are written as a taxpayer and citizen and I stand behind them. We - all of us - need to ensure we are thoughtful and that we consider all effort expended and seek to determine where the best value for dollar spent can be found. It may be that in some areas the best model for delivering services is within the public service, and it may be that in others the most efficient model includes the private sector. But it is a fools errand to think that we can find enough efficiency in less than 10 percent of the budget to solve all of our woes. And as that road has been travelled often, one might considered that we have already entered the land of diminishing returns.
Blitzen, I am always open to a full, open and adult debate, face-to-face.
I don't know enough about this deal to comment on it specifically one way or the other, but it sure would be nice if we didn't "take the bait" and focus on these relatively small amounts of money (relative to the overall budget) every time someone shines a light on them. Why not, instead, undertake to do the hard work of ensuring we get value for our investment from ALL labour associated with our public services. We need to look at the size, cost and effectiveness of our public service relative to others of similar sized populations.
Every single time someone seeks efficiency they look in the same places. Why not start with the place where 90+ percent of the public expenditure on labour resides? Why not put in the effort to understand whether we are getting good value for all the money we invest there? Its easy to point out the cost of coffee, or consultants or airline tickets. These amounts are trivial compared with what we spend on the public service and we have absolutely no idea whether or not that is well invested.
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You are the lowest of the low. A coward. Your opinion means nothing because it belongs to no one.
And yes I do beleive we should give this system a chance. But I also believe it is not enough to focus all the efforts on less than 10% of the budget and I stand by that and can back it up. When you get some courage to be an adult and a responsible member of society, let me know.
As I said, when its been needed, I have, on two separate occasions, provided consulting services to government. I also said I would do so again if the right opportunity arose. I stand behind that work and the value for money provided.
I would also tell you that you wont' have to look very far within government to know that I have VERY often given freely of my time when asked, out of a sense of civic duty. There are many other consultants that do so as well. There are also consultants I know who have only worked for government for a very long time and who would find it impossible to find work in the private sector. These same statements hold true for employees.
The point here is simple: its time to focus on outcomes rather than inputs. That's one of the most tried and tested ways of delivering success.
I am also a consultant who has, on two occasions over the past 7 years done pieces of work, of which I am proud, for government. If the right opportunity presented itself, I would do so again. The lion's share of my business, however, is for the private sector in my areas of specialty which, generally speaking are technology and governance.
It has been my observation that most, but not all, consultants are hired for pieces of work and that they must complete those pieces of work to a certain standard in order to fulfill their contracts and be paid. When they work for government, they are generally paid below market rates for that work. There are no benefits etc paid to these people. I have witnessed contractors- real live human beings that live and work in this community- being asked to work in closets, in tiny cubicles and given appalling working conditions simply to assuage the union rules that state how many square feet of space employees need to have. I have also seen teams where you wouldn't know who was the worker or the contractor. It runs the gamut.
My point here is that to tackle the problem of runaway government spending that we can ill afford, we need to look at everything.
Many people think government workers are paid less than contractors. In my experience, this simply isn't true if you look at the fully loaded labour cost of two people in similar roles.
My comments are written as a taxpayer and citizen and I stand behind them. We - all of us - need to ensure we are thoughtful and that we consider all effort expended and seek to determine where the best value for dollar spent can be found. It may be that in some areas the best model for delivering services is within the public service, and it may be that in others the most efficient model includes the private sector. But it is a fools errand to think that we can find enough efficiency in less than 10 percent of the budget to solve all of our woes. And as that road has been travelled often, one might considered that we have already entered the land of diminishing returns.
Blitzen, I am always open to a full, open and adult debate, face-to-face.
Every single time someone seeks efficiency they look in the same places. Why not start with the place where 90+ percent of the public expenditure on labour resides? Why not put in the effort to understand whether we are getting good value for all the money we invest there? Its easy to point out the cost of coffee, or consultants or airline tickets. These amounts are trivial compared with what we spend on the public service and we have absolutely no idea whether or not that is well invested.