Give responsibilty -- and money -- for small mags to the Canada Council, Mags Canada says

The federal government is being urged by Magazines Canada to transfer responsibility and the approximately $620,000 funding envelope that affects small cultural magazines distributing fewer than 5,000 paid copies annually to the Canada Council for the Arts.

In its pre-budget submission to be released today (Monday), Magazines Canada says that while it supports the new Canada Periodical Fund (CPF), the proposed 5,000 paid copy threshold means the CPF will not support the small press art and literary magazines that rely very heavily on current funding to support Canadian editorial development and to offset postal rates. The proposed floor would affect some 42 magazines.

The solution recommended is that the funding (and the responsibility) that had previously been administered by Canadian Heritage under the Canadian Magazine Fund (CMF) be transferred to the Canada Council "which already delivers an effective program to art and literary titles".

This [recommendation] would ensure that this investment continues to be directed to arts and literary titles. While this is a relatively modest level of the overall CPF budget, it is substantial in its benefit to these small titles. This also has the advantage, from a program streamlining point of view, of consolidating all arts and literary investment under ‘one roof’. Here, the Canada Council for the Arts can evolve and shape its programming to meet the needs of this unique family of titles. This would be a markedimprovement over the current approach in which both the Canada Council and theCMF SALM provide support to the same community of titles but with uncoordinated criteria and funding formulas.

Further, MagsCan recommends that, rather than implementing the CPF overnight, effective April 1, 2010, that an (unspecified) transition period be negotiated to ease the industry into the new program.

We believe it would be unacceptable to cut longstanding support to these magazine titles all at once next year and have recommended to the Minister that a multi-year transition plan be put in place.

The recommendations are part of the pre-budget submission which suggests that the federal government concentrate on two, critical areas in its 2010 budget: the new Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) and the impacts of the Canada Post strategic review panel recommendations, particularly distance-based pricing and creation of a universal service obligation.

This year's budget consultations come at a time when the Canadian magazine industry is coping with a crippling recession. Average spending on advertising in Canadian magazines is down dramatically. This has had a significant impact on employment and has meant reductions in the amount of original Canadian content that magazines are able to create.

Magazines Canada says that Canada Post needs to review its approach to "distance-related pricing", which threatens the delivery of Canadian content to rural areas and contradicts Canada's longstanging magazine policy to ensure affordable and accessible availability of Canadian content to everyone.

It agrees with the post office's own review panel's recommendations that said CPC needs to modernize its network and define a contractual relationship with magazine publishers to develop a "universal service obligation". Further, it says that Canada Post should not have its letter mail rates restricted to 2/3 of the consumer price index because this means that other services -- such as mailing magazines -- would then have to bear the greater cost increases.