Postal subsidy and mag fund in serious jeopardy

Magazines Canada has asked its member publications to send letters to their Members of Parliament concerning worry about the very real possibility that the longtime Publications Assistance Program (the postal subsdidy that is now administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage)and funding to the Canada Magazine Fund may be terminated.

In a members' bulletin, CEO Mark Jamison said:

All publishers should be aware of a very real risk that funding to the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF) may be cut by the federal government.

The concern comes from two sources:

1. Canada Post plans to cut its $15 million contribution to PAP as of April 2007. This is a contribution CPC makes to the PAP in return for exclusive authority to distribute PAP-funded periodicals. Canada Post has said it will terminate this contribution in April 2007. Despite efforts by magazine groups to argue that this will be a serious problem for many magazines, it appears unlikely that the federal government will intervene. If this cut were to occur, PAP funding would be reduced by 25% to $45 million from a current level of $60 million.

2. Culture is not part of the Harper 5 priorities. The government is in the midst of a highly centralized Treasury Board cost-cutting exercise looking to slash $2 billion on top of the $1 billion they have already cut. The Department of Heritage would not be spared from this cutting.

Member magazines are being asked to write to their Members of Parliament and to Lawrence Cannon (the minister responsible for Canada Post) and Bev Oda (the minister responsible for Canadian Heritage). You don't have to be a Magazines Canada member to write such a letter, mind you, particularly if you think that these changes will have a devastating effect on Canadian magazines.