Public Accounts Committee on April 1st, 2008

[Nada Semaan]

It depends. For example, the AgriInvest program will have anywhere between 150,000 and 160,000 people applying for it. The Kickstart program that just went out a couple of months ago to help set up the accounts had over 155,000. For the AgriStability program we usually get anywhere between 50,000 and 55,000 clients across Canada applying, and depending on the circumstances of the year, they'll either be eligible or they won't.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

What would the range of the average payout be?

[Nada Semaan]

I don't have that off the top of my head.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

It can be anywhere from $1,000 to over $1 million, depending on the size of the business and the amount of the loss they're incurring.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Okay. How many employees do you have?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Do you mean in the department or in CAIS?

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

How many are in CAIS, running this?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

In CAIS we have 675 people.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you.

I believe Mr. Hubbard has a few questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Mr. Hubbard, there's a minute and a half left.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

Thanks.

In the new programs, you're still negotiating with the provinces. Is that correct?

[Nada Semaan]

We have concluded our negotiations to implement the suite.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

With all provinces?

[Nada Semaan]

With all provinces.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

How many will participate under your administration, and how many under their own?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Right now Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island run their own. We deliver for the rest of Canada. However, there is interest from British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Their ministers have said that they're interested in taking over. We'll see how they approach that. We'll see how that goes.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

So really, with a staff of 600, you're looking after about half the country.

In the figures Mr. Christopherson brought up about the American aid program, the American farm aid, something like 95% of the money goes to 5% of the farmers. It's a figure that's difficult to believe. In terms of our programs, what percent goes to what percent of the producers?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Mr. Hubbard, I don't have the exact numbers and I don't want to mislead you. Let me get you the information. I'm sure we have it back there. I'll give it to you before the end of the committee.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

Also, Mr. Chair, we'd probably like to have something on these provinces. In New Brunswick, are you better off to be with you people or to be outside your organization? I don't know. In Ontario, are you better to be in or better to be out?

I think each province should know whether it's better to be in or better to be out. If we had some comparatives things, we would know how this program really is....

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

It's their own decision, Mr. Hubbard. It wouldn't be up to us.

[Charles Hubbard, Liberal, Miramichi, NB]

But all the information is here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Just to finalize that point, you can file the information that you're going to get back to Mr. Hubbard with the clerk of the committee, and we'll circulate it.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

We'll actually get it to the whole committee, because I think it's relevant.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

You could file it with the clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Hubbard.

Mr. Williams is next, for seven minutes.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have some serious concerns here.

We've had some great commitments by the department as to what they're going to do, but I see that the Auditor General audited the farm support programs in 1991, 1994, and 1996, and at that time they noted the need to strengthen the program administration in areas such as payment, accuracy, verification, error correction, and on-farm audits. Now here we are in 2008 with the same arguments and the same commitments, I presume, Mr. Chairman, so what's new?