From the outset, it was stated that 3% of the total Agriculture Income Disaster Assistance, AIDA, budget would be allocated to cover administrative costs. A large infrastructure is required to process applications for the program and maintain a high quality of client service. For instance, the AIDA administration has taken more than 130,000 calls on the toll free line from producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan alone. To date, more than 51,000 producers across the country have applied for assistance and more than $308 million has been paid out to applicants. The bulk of applications, more than 36,000, were received by the AIDA administration.
Total administrative costs for the AIDA program from the period December 1, 1998 to November 30, 1999 where the federal governement delivers the program, are $15,189,531. Of this total, salaries account for $5,817,351 and operating costs totalled $9,372,180.
In response to the specific areas raised in the question:
(a) Salaries account for $5,817,351 of total administrative costs.
(b) Consultant fees total $1,541,844, with the majority of costs incurred to develop the infrastructure for informatics necessary to support the program.
(c) Advertising was undertaken to ensure that all eligible producers were aware of the program and sent in an application. Total advertising costs were $1,516,255.
(d) The cost of furniture was $16,489. Rentals totalled $250,277.
(e) Travel costs totalled $257,405. Travel was necessary to meet with provincial officials on the design and delivery of the program and was arranged to be as cost-effective as possible.
(f) Telecommunications costs totalled $134,930.