I think things have improved a lot in Canada. There was a time when the concentration of funds was such that the success rates were much lower. For example, there are currently two types of requests at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. You can ask for a small amount, and the success rates will be higher, or you can ask for a large amount, and the funding rate will be lower.
I think the government can experiment more when it comes to spreading out research funding. Spreading out the funding allows for more chances for discovery. The more researchers there are doing research, the more discoveries there will be.