Canada Periodical Fund abandons small literaries, cuts maximum funding for all but farm pubs

[This post has been updated]
[Update: Magazines Canada has issued a statement about the new Canada Periodical Fund. President and CEO Mark Jamison said:

Magazines Canada welcomes the new Canada Periodical Fund (CPF). The CPF is an important cultural program designed to help Canadian content reach Canadians. It replaces both the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF),both of which served cultural policy well over many years.

We are grateful for the support of Heritage Minister Moore in sustaining full program funding including the annual $15 million that was once the responsibility of Canada Post in PAP.This first year of the CPF is a transition year through which Magazines Canada will work with Canadian Heritage to address the specific needs of the industry.

We stress that the new “Aid to Publishers” component has a very tight February 19, 2010 deadline. To date, application information and materials are only available for the “Aid to Publishers” component of the program.The other components of the program are also important to segments of the Canadian industry and we look forward to more details on these in the very near future.[end update]

The rules for the new Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) -- promised since last February, but only released late Tuesday -- are what many magazines had feared. Essentially, the Department of Canadian Heritage has not budged from the draft positions it first revealed a year ago (with a couple of notable exceptions, see below).

Distribution of about $75.5 million in funding is to be based on the number of eligible copies distributed in a year, not mailing costs, as it was in the the former publications assistance program (PAP), and not editorial expenses, as it was in the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF), both of which are subsumed into the new CPF. About 95% of funding will be in the "Aid to Publishers" category. Despite the very late publication of the rules and release of the application, the deadline is  one month from today, Monday, February 19, 2010. 

English application information     
French application information

• Small magazines with fewer than 5,000 paid copies circulated annually will receive no funding at all. This includes many of the country's literary and cultural magazines ;
• All magazines must have sold at least 50% of their copies in the year previous to their application; 
• All paid circulation magazines must have a minimum subscription or single copy price of at least $1 a copy or a minimum average subscription price of $12 a year;
  
• Aboriginal, official language minority, ethnocultural and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual publications (GLBT) are exempted from the requirement that they must sell at least 50% of copies;
  
• Aboriginal, official language minority and ethnocultural publications have to sell only 2,500 paid copies a year to be eligible;
  
• All magazines have a funding cap of $1.5 million, which is half of what some magazines received under the editorial content provisions of the CMF plus PAP, both of which are now ending;
• Extraordinarily, farm publications -- among the most profitable magazines in the country -- are exempted from the funding cap in the new regulations. Other business-to-business publications, with which the farm press is usually included, are not;
•  Professional association publications like CA magazine and CMA Management are ineligible;
•  Other association magazines may be eligible, but may not include subscriptions with their membership fees and must allow members to opt out and the public to buy the publication at the same price as members; 
• ‘sponsored circulation’ counts toward determining eligibility but not counted in the formula that determines the support each individual magazine receives;
• Only paid circulation, request circulation and paid circulation non-daily newspapers are eligible to apply;
• Payments under the program will be made direct to publishers, rather than through a Canada Post account and publishers are free to use alternative distribution.

The rules are undoubtedly going to be a major disappointment to the many groups who lobbied hard to have the draft changed, including Magazines Canada and the Canadian Business Press and the ad hoc group of small literary and cultural magazines that mounted a concerted Facebook campaign to get the floor on funding lowered or eliminated.

Applications under the new rules for current recipients of CMF and/or PAP funding will be subject to a streamlined "one-time-only" process (involving a simple, two-page application using data already filed with Heritage). They will receive an amount between 90% and 150% of their total funding from the SEC in 2008‑2009, the SALM in 2008‑2009, and the PAP in 2008‑2009, up to a maximum of $1.5 million (unless you are a farm publication).

Related posts:

• Facebook group protests discontinuation of small arts and literary mag funding
• Canadian Business Press calls for federal fairness in funding
• Give responsibility -- and money -- for small mags to the Canada Council, Mags Canada says
• Modify the circulation threshold? The answer is no says minister Moore
• Time is ticking away for solution to small literary and cultural magazine funding
• Does the government want to treat small mags and readers like cockroaches?
• Unintended consequences?
• Magazines Canada wants targetted program for small arts & literary mags
• Circulation floor on new CPF could exclude smaller arts and literary titles
• New Canada Periodical Fund holds stead at $75.5 million
• Magazine funding overhaul delayed until 2010
• Radical funding overhaul by Canadian Heritage proposes merger of CMF and PAP

Canada Periodical Fund and Canada Council funding held safe in federal budget

In what was otherwise a tough day for the Department of Canadian Heritage, as a result of the 2012 federal budget, the magazine sector came off alright. Magazines Canada has posted a bulletin to its members congratulating the department for successfully defending funding for the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) and the Canada Council.

Magazines Canada congratulates the Government of Canada for reaffirming its investment in the Canada Periodical Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.

"We are pleased that Finance Minister Flaherty and Minister Moore have continued their commitment to the newly designed Canada Periodical Fund as an important driver of economic activity and the creation and circulation of Canadian content across multiple platforms," said Mark Jamison, CEO of Magazines Canada.

"Further, we congratulate the Government on its decision to sustain support for the Canada Council for the Arts—our most important agency of support and guidance to the broadest community of arts and cultural activity in Canada, including our arts and literary magazine creators."

Some $191.1 million is being cut in heritage programs over the next three years. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which falls under the purview of heritage minister James Moore, will lose $115 million in funding over the next three years. The National Film Board will see its budget cut by $6.7 million over the same period while Telefilm Canada will lose $10.6-million The Canada Council for the Arts, the National Gallery of Canada and national museums will not see any budget reductions.

Canadian Heritage announces $52.7 million in Canada Periodical Fund grants

[This post has been updated] The  Aid to Publishers' grant data for the Canada Periodical Fund for the 2010-11 year have been released and are available online. A total of 484 titles received $52,669,029 in grants ranging from the largest, at $1,500,000 to the smallest, at $386. The CPF replaces the postal subsidy (Publications Assistance Program) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF).

(As reported in earlier posts, most of the smaller cultural magazines were shut out of funding by a circulation floor that disqualified titles with fewer than 5,000 paid copies per year. and the support for arts and literary magazines (SALM) was discontinued.)

The average grant under this year's CPF was $108,820, but this is somewhat skewed as 11 publications received more than $1 million and five publications received the maximum allowed ($1.5 million) under rules of the new program. The median (the figure where half of recipients receive more, half less) is about $22,222. Here are the magazines that got the maximum:

• Canadian House & Home 
• Canadian Living
• Chatelaine (English)
• Maclean's
• Reader's Digest

The other magazines receiving more than $1 million from the CPF including the above and

• Coup de Pouce ($1,426,187) 
• Style at Home ($1,349, 466) 
• Movie Entertainment ($1,292,492) 
• Châtelaine (French) ($1,236,251) 
• TV Hebdo ($1,157,100) 
• Primeurs ($1,103,183)

While not a surprise since the rules were announced last year, these larger consumer magazines were nevertheless getting considerably less than they previously received from the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF) combined.  For example, Canadian Living loses $1.36 million in funding under the CPF. The combination of Chatelaine and Châtelaine was $2,736, 251, compared with $3,892,943, a 30% drop. Canadian House & Home receives $1,500,000 where previously they received $1,623,492, a cut of about 7.6%.

At least in part because of this hard cap on grants and the smaller number of magazines eligible, many titles  received slightly or much more than previously. For example:

• Applied Arts ($67,446 compared with $65,616)
• Canadian Business ($535,000 compared with $471,000 in 2008-09) 
• Canadian Plastics ($13,731 vs. $12,758)
• Chirp ($282,220 compared with $211,308)
  
• Clin d'oeil ($480,749 compared with $436,581)
  
• Cottage Life ($265,674 compared with $237,535) 
• Fashion ($715,369, compared with $667,176)
• Flare ($782,000, compared with $720,000) 
• Frank (Atlantic Edition) ($28,450 vs. $8,202)
• Geist ($13,226 vs. $11,806)
• Hamilton magazine ($32,855 compared with $30,470)
• Homemaker's ($859,431 vs. $689,981)
• Legion magazine ($551,969 vs. $445,900) 
• LouLou ($1,027,357 combined for its English and French editions, compared to $891,413) 
• Maisonneuve ($25,717 vs. $26,319) 
• MoneySense ($211,635, compared with $156,930) 
• Motorcycle Mojo ($19,835 vs. $13,224)
• Opera Canada ($6,835 vs. $4,757)
• Outdoor Canada ($277,992 vs. $221,656)
• Prairies North ($26,912 vs. $20,592)
  
• This Magazine ($8,911 compared with $5,941)
• Toronto Life ($723,658 vs. $686,788)
• Up Here ($77,518 vs. $69,817)
• The Walrus ($261,264 vs. $217,199)

Here are some examples of magazines that stayed steady or saw a drop in support this year, compared with 2008-09 data on the Canadian Heritage website:

• Border Crossings ($49,515 compared with $52,346 (most of which came from discontinued Support for Arts and Literary Magazines -- SALM)
• The Dance Current ($19,352 vs. $20,487)
• Literary Review of Canada  ($19,499 vs. $19,882)

[Note, the comparative figures are between this year's CPF and the two components that were merged to create it. In some cases, the 2008-09 figures include funding under the SALM component.]

[Update: See Globe and Mail article on grants.]

[More analysis later]

Related posts:

• Small cultural mags were cut adrift because they're not businesses
• Periodical Fund quietly removes requirement to print funded mags in Canada
• New CPF wholly ignored industry recommendations says BCAMP exec
• Canada Periodical Fund abandons small literaries, cuts maximum funding for all but farm pubs
• Is consistency the hobgoblin of the heritage ministry?
• Canadian Business Press calls for federal fairness in funding
• Give responsibility -- and money -- for small mags to the Canada Council, Mags Canada says
• Time is ticking away for solution to small literary and cultural mag funding
• Does the government want to treat small mags and readers like cockroaches?
• Facebook group protests discontinuation of small arts and literary mag funding

Radical funding overhaul by Canadian Heritage proposes merger of CMF and PAP

[This post has been updated.] The Department of Canadian Heritage is proposing a radical overhaul of its funding programs, combining the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF) and the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) into one, new program called the Canada Periodical Fund. It proposes that funding be used to encourage the development of digital and online intiatives of print publishers. [And it indicates that the $1 million program called Support for Arts and Literary Magazines (SALM) would be gone, a major hit for the hundreds of very small cultural magazines in this country.]

The department has launched a consultation process by posting a discussion paper, a PowerPoint presentation and various background documents on its website and asking for public and industry consultation and reaction by April 25. Individuals may respond and there will be roundtable discussions by invitation to stakeholder groups in the industry.

[UPDATE: Concern is already being expressed that the time allowed for consultation is extremely short in reviewing and commenting on such a sweeping change in policy, particularly one which, like the PAP postal subsidy, has been around for more than 100 years. While the proposals suggest that they are freeing magazines to be compensated for using alternative forms of delivery, for many smaller, independent magazines in this country this is not a reasonable or likely alternative. (Canadians have delivered to them more than 700 million copies of magazines every year through the mail.) The proposal, in effect, lets Canada Post off the hook from its long responsibility to allow Canadian publishers to reach Canadian readers in a cost-effective way.]

This review is not considering whether the Government should fund magazines and non-daily newspapers, [says the DCH document] but how they should be funded. Having considered the current environment and the history of the programs, Canadian Heritage has developed a proposal for discussion during these consultations: the development of a new, combined program tentatively called the Canada Periodical Fund.

All publications which now receive PAP or CMF funding -- that includes all consumer and trade magazines and community newspapers -- can expect to be affected by the proposed changes, says the ministry. No dollar figures are attached; the two programs together were worth $60 million to Canadian magazines in 2006-07 , although the PAP is set to lose $15 million effective March 31, 2009 when Canada Post withdraws the last of its financial support.

If the Canada Periodical Fund were to retain all of the current funding for CMF and PAP (less the departing Canada Post contribution), the merged program would have $60 million to spend, of which about $45 million (about 78%) could conceivably go to magazines. But there are no suggestions in the consultation documents of how much money the new fund may be getting. It could be less than it gets now; it is unlikely to get more.

Scott Shortliffe, the Director of Periodical Publishing and Programs bluntly told a Canadian Business Press meeting last June:

"Frankly, I think the idea of spending more is extraordinarily lofty. This government has been very consistent in saying it has new spending priorities and that more money will be allocated to the cultural industries. Even if someone came forward with a brilliant program that would cost $300 million, it's not going to happen."

Whatever the budget, the proposal is that 95% of the new Fund would go to periodical publishers (magazines and non-daily newspapers) and 5% to industry initiatives. Right now

• a fixed program budget would be allocated by formula to eligible publishers to reimburse magazine content and distribution expenses. Such a formula could be weighted by profitability, proportion of Canadian content, the ad:editorial ratio and whether the publication serves official and other language minorities, aboriginal or rural communities..

• The formula would be adjusted and refined annually.
  

• Publishers could apply and receive payment once a year for all their titles. In other words, application would be made by publisher rather than by title -- so Rogers Media and Transcontinental Media would make one application for support for their dozens of different consumer and trade magazines.The entire program budget would be allocated at one time.

• Eligible distribution expenses could be for either Canada Post or alternative delivery methods, a major change for the industry, which has already explored delivering magazines outside of the traditional and increasingly unaffordable mail system.

Somewhat ominously, the discussion document muses about "whether the relatively large share of program spending received by a relatively small number of large publishing companies is an appropriate and effective use of public funds". This can only be a reference to the postal subsidies and editorial content support being received by large companies like Transcontinental Media and Rogers Media Publishing and large circulation titles like Chatelaine and Maclean's or Canadian Living. DCH notes that 75% of the CMF goes to the 20 largest publishing companies.

It also questions whether the current funding regime is benefiting writers, photographers, illustrators and other creators. And whether federal government support for magazines should be focussed in areas that complement its Advantage Canada strategy to cut taxes and reduce the national debt.

The benchmarks for success of the program could be:

• Increased Canadian content in periodicals, measured by the number of pages of Canadian magazine content produced annually, the incomes of Canadian creators, and the diversity and number of Canadian magazines and non-daily newspapers;
• Greater access by Canadians to Canadian periodicals, measured by market share of Canadian magazines, circulation and access by in smaller communities;
• Greater stability and predictability in program delivery by establishing and adhering to service standards.

The discussion paper says that proposals, which are an outcome of a wide-ranging review over more than a year and a half, are intended to provide optimum value to Canadian readers and predictability and streamlined program delivery to publishers and DCH by merging two programs and delivering them by publishing company rather than by title. It also says that there will be greater flexibility in the type of distribution publishers may use now that Canada Post is withdrawing its last support from PAP effective March 31.

One of the most dramatic departures suggested by the discussion paper is that it contemplates directing money to support and encourage online and digital delivery of Canadian content.

The proposed approach offers opportunities to address changes in the way Canadians are consuming news and entertainment: through joint initiatives on industry-wide projects and by exploring the possibility of opening funding to new forms of publications or to online content produced by print publications.

DCH poses questions that people in the industry will undoubtedly want to answer, among which are (we're paraphrasing):

• Where should the government target its support?
• What types of publications should receive support and which should be excluded?
• Should the program support web-only magazines as well as digital ventures of online publishers?
• Should good environmental practices be rewarded within the program?
• Should appropriate compensation for writers and other contributors be a factor in the program?

There are probably a bunch of other questions to come, including the most compelling:

• Will there be more money, the same money spread differently or less money?

[Statement about consultation, from Magazines Canada.]

[More to come]

How much is your magazine getting from the Canada Periodical Fund?

Magazines that are eligible for the new Canada Periodical Fund (no cultural mag below 5,000 paid copies annually need apply) have been receiving letters recently telling them how much they are getting in this, the first year of the CPF. In cases we have heard of, the amount is substantially less in aggregate than they received last year from the publications assistance program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF). 

Below is a link to a very brief, (5-question) survey that will allow us to report more fully on the fund. It asks for your funding in the last year for the Canadian Magazine Fund and the PAP and what you have been told your magazine will receive this year with the CPF.

Survey about magazine funding by the Canada Periodical Fund

(If you have a difficulty with the link, put the following in your browser:
http://polldaddy.com/s/57A749733EF32A9F

New Canada Periodical Fund holds steady at $75.5 million

The new Canada Periodical Fund is expected to deliver about $75.5 million in funding support for the magazine industry. The CPF -- which will merge the Publications Assistance Program and the Canada Magazine Fund starting in 2010 -- has essentially preserved the level of funding previously received. The announcement was made this morning in Montreal.

This can be considered a major accomplishment for James Moore, the minister of Canadian Heritage as he contends with straitened budget circumstances in Ottawa. It's also a lobbying coup for Magazines Canada.

The new program -- whose details will be worked out in industry consultations over the next year -- will probably cap grants to any one title at a level of $1.5 million, although it won't necessarily limit what can be given to a multi-title publishing company. The program won't necessarily start in April 2010, either; its implementation depends very much on having a smooth transition, according to industry sources. In the interim, current programs (PAP and CMF) remain in place.

Eligibility will require fundable magazines to have some combination of verified paid or request or newsstand circulation, as well as containing a minimum of 80% Canadian content.

“The periodical industry is a key cultural sector in Canada. Magazines and community newspapers generate revenues of about $3 billion annually and employ tens of thousands of Canadians in every region,” said Minister Moore in a release. “This industry needs stability in the levels of financial support it receives from the Government to weather the current economic slowdown, and that support should be flexible, targeted, and relevant. Our goal is clear: to offer Canadian publishers a simple and effective program so that they can continue to provide readers with a broad range of quality Canadian periodicals.”

There was no announced separate fund for community newspapers and the farm press, who had been pressing for it, so they will continue to be competing with consumer and b2b magazines in the main fund. While there is a lot of talk about online and digital publishing initiatives, this will depend on definitions derived from a consultation that hasn't yet been done.

The bulk of the money ($72 million) goes to publishers to spend as they wish on any aspect of building their businesses. In addition, there is about $2 million for "collective initiatives"; this replaces the association infrastructure program which was formerly about $2.5 million. And there is a $1.5 million for business innovation -- project support for small enterprises.

Small literary and cultural magazines come under the main funding umbrella; the current SALM (support for literary and arts magazines) program will be discontinued and it remains to be seen what proportion of the main fund will be informally allocated to small cultural titles.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates a strong commitment to a vibrant Canadian magazine sector,” said Mark Jamison, CEO of Magazines Canada. “This is good news for readers of Canadian publications, for the creative community and for the publishing sector. The new program will provide greater flexibility to publishers, providing more options in making magazines accessible to Canadian readers. It addresses the changes taking place in the publishing sector and will be more relevant in today’s environment.”

Professional association magazines such as those for accountants, engineers and so on will no longer be eligible.

Government release and backgrounder

Related stories:

• Tories announce details of reworked Canadian magazine fund (Globe and Mail)

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.

Small cultural mags were cut adrift because they're not businesses

It was an interesting presentation this week at the MagNet conference in Toronto by Scott Shortliffe, the director of periodical publishing and programs from the Department of Canadian Heritage. He probably gladdened the hearts of publishers large and small by saying that they were only a couple of weeks away from receiving cheques under the new Canada Periodical Fund (CPF). Almost 1,000 titles have qualified under the Aid to Publishers component, which represents the merger of the former Canadian Magazine Fund (CMF) and the Publications Assistance Program (PAP -- commonly known as the postal subsidy).

I should say upfront that Shortliffe should be commended for his frankness and openness in showing up when asked and answering questions from publishers. He has demonstrated himself to be a sympathetic voice in Ottawa and a sensitive student of the magazine business and its economics.

Something he said last week seemed new, at least to me. That was that the Canada Periodical Fund and the periodical program in general is basically an “industry support program” and that his department made the decision (he used the term “rationalization”) that the programming was intended effectively to support magazines as viable businesses. He said that Heritage had made a departure from normal practice and may have made a mistake (under the  CMF) in funding small arts and cultural publications in the first place since success for them is more often judged on artistic merit rather than their business models.

The costs of servicing very small arts and cultural publications (roughly 50 of them are now ineligible under the CPF if they sell fewer than 5,000 copies a year), he said,  outstripped the benefit to Canadians of their tiny circulations (I am paraphrasing). I even thought I heard him refer to these as”micro magazines”.

He pointed out that the Canada Council was in the business, unlike Heritage, of deciding on funding based on artistic merit and was the appropriate place for small arts and culture magazines to go. Of course the shunting of these small magazines and their tiny but important business and circulation issues to the Canada Council is not likely to help those magazines, since no more money seems forthcoming for the Canada Council to offset this increased need.

Small arts and cultural titles which are seeing their postal costs go up 3 or 4 times with the end of the publications assistance program had come to count on the very valuable Support for Arts and Literary Magazines (SALM) funding which met a very real need and had made some very real differences in the audience-building capacities of those magazines. Surely if costs of administering this relatively small portion of the Heritage periodical budget was the problem, streamlining and simplifying the program would have been a better response than cutting its smallest clients adrift. (I have heard from more than one source that the principle reason for the floor on funding was to cut out academic journals, who tap other sources of funding such as SSHRC, and that the small literary and cultural magazines were collateral damage.)

Shortliffe also said that, at least for the next two years, relatively small arts and literary magazines (between 500 and 45,000 circulation) would be eligible for support under the business innovation portion of the CPF. Some of this funding might go to publications that are just under the 5,000-circulation-per-year minimum for the larger fund and could apply for a project to boost their circulation over the threshold. However they will be assessed on the basis of just that -- their innovative ideas -- and they will be competing with much larger publications for this portion of the pot. Many of the challenges facing small cultural magazines, however, are relatively prosaic ones of fundamental audience development or business planning.

Paradoxically, he said he had no problem with his staff making judgements about the innovativeness of particular applications under the business innovation program. This in answer to my question about whether they would be calling in advisors from the magazine industry to determine what was truly worthwhile and innovative – just as the Canada Council does with its peer review panels who determine if a magazine's artistic merits should be supported.

Shortliffe was unable to say if this transitional arrangement (access to the business innovation component for small arts and cultural titles is only approved for two years) might disappear after the 2011-12 year. 

The year in Canadian magazines 2010

As we do at the start of a new year, we look back at our blogging year 2010 , month by month to some of the more than 914 posts we did (egad). You may find some of these to be pleasant, or occasionally painful, reminders. (Click on the headings to be taken to the original story.)

January

Only 150 types of cigars, but thousands of magazines
Hub Cigar in Edmonton's Old Strathcona district celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Presumably for their explosive content
Security officials decreed that magazines and books must travel in checked luggage on airlines. Fortunately, this edict was quickly withdrawn.

New look on campus
University Affairs magazine announces it will relaunch in February with a new look and feel.

Finns on the case
Maclean's magazine was taken to task by a Finnish newspaper for a "howler of massive proportions" when it published that a story saying 10 million Finns died during the Soviet regime when there are only 5 million Finns now, and were fewer then. Editor Mark Stevenson said that retraction was unnecessary, since they'd run a letter to the editor pointing out the mistake.

The Beaver gets the boot
Canada's National History Society decided to replace the venerable, but misconstrued, name The Beaver for its magazine with a more anodyne Canada's History.

Too small to fund?
The Canada Periodical Fund announces its rulebook, one item of which is that titles with annual paid circulation of fewer than 5,000  copies (which includes most of Canada's literary magazines) were now ineligible for funding.

Another one bites the dust
Venerable Duthie's Books, one of the longest standing independent magazine and book outlets in Vancouver, announces it is packing it in after 53 years in business.

Pole-ing results: Redwood becomes Totem
Canada's largest custom publisher (owned by Transcontinental Media) announces it is rebranding itself as Totem.

February

Downbeat
The founder of Coda, the jazz magazine, John Norris dies at the age of 76.

Prism break
Maher Arar starts an online magazine called Prism to discuss security and human rights issues. Of which he is intimately familiar.

Slimmed, buffed and retouched
Photoshop celebrates 20 years of tweaking reality.

Bursting into bloom
Canada's newest gardening magazine, Garden Making, is launched.

Blogging  along...
Canadian Magazines blog marks 5 years of news, views and reviews about the industry

Centre of the universe, indeed
Statistics Canada reports that more than 80% of Canadian magazine revenue was earned in Ontario and Quebec in 2008.

March

Sweet charity I
LRC, the Literary Review of Canada, gets charitable status after a patient campaign.

Tripping over Bigfoot
The Sasquatch, a companion newspaper produced by Briarpatch magazine, had to be suspended. A while earlier, the magazine had to cut back from 8 to 6 issues a year.

Here's your hat, what's your hurry?
Chatelaine magazine shows six staffers the door in the wake of the hiring of Jane Francisco as editor, replacing the fired Maryam Sanati. Not surprisingly, their replacements were all people who had worked for Francisco at the late Wish magazine.

Let's make a deal
Magazines Canada, in its 5th annual Buy 2, Get 1 Free subscription promotion, signs up more than 13,000 subs.

up! and away
Tom Gierasimczuk, the editor of Westjet's up! magazine, is named Alberta editor of the year; within months he decamped to Toronto to edit Marketing magazine.

Paper chase
Alberta Venture taps Edmonton Journal writer as new editor. Paul Marck sat down in the big chair effective with the April issue.

Xtra! Xtra! Read all about it
The Ottawa gay magapaper Xtra! rolls out a new look.

I dunno, which one do you like?
The Walrus let its readers choose which of two covers by the illustrator Seth they liked best, then printed their choice.

You don't look a day over 70
Quill & Quire magazine turns 75.

April

On the ropes
The Canadian Association of Journalists publishes an open letter appealing to its members and supporters to help fund it out of a crisis.

Sweet Charity II
The British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers (BCAMP) announced it was seeking charitable status.

Hugs all around
A picture published in the Western Sportsman, of a giant squid caught off Nanaimo, was accused of hurting sports diving business in the town.

Print...print...web, print, web...web, web...print...
The Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) and online monitoring firm comScore partner to create a new combined database that promises to unlock total audience value.

Gives a whole new meaning to DIY
House & Home Media announces it will now self-produce its TV show, starring the omnipresent Lynda Reeves.

May

Every fact a checked fact I

The editor in chief of Reader's Digest Canada, Robert Goyette, writes glowingly in an editorial of how much hard work goes into fact-checking of every issue by five, full-time staff. [See December]

The dines they are a changin'

Longtime Toronto Life food editor, James Chatto, is let go.

Coming soon

Toronto Life creates a "movie trailer" to promote its June issue. It talks about the things that other Canadian cities hate about Toronto. Readers think it is a documentary.

Always steps up
John Milne of Rogers' business and professional publishing is named Magazines Canada's volunteer of the year.

Holding Heather to book
A small magazine editor in New Brunswick came out swinging against her university's decision to grant an honourary degree to the CEO of Indigo Books and Music, Heather Reisman.
Features are so yesterday
Chatelaine comes out proclaiming a "fresh, new look" but we couldn't help noticing that while there was lots of dessert and starters, there were very small portions of meaty features.

The first, but not the last
NOW magazine says that it is the first magazine in Canada to offer its readers an iPad version.

Wish I weren't here...
Jailed Cannabis Culture magazine publisher Marc Emery continues his crusade from behind bars by blogging and podcasting from prison in Seattle.

June

But who's counting?
Sometime on June 1, the Canadian Magazines blog crested 1 million page views in an unbroken string since starting in March 2005.

Fame, yes, but fortune? Not so much
Penny Caldwell, editor of Cottage Life magazine, wins the editor of the year award from the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME).

You're too teeny
Scott Shortliffe, the director of periodical publishing and programs at Canadian Heritage, confirms that the new Canada Periodical Fund is basically an industry support program for viable businesses. The costs of servicing small arts and cultural titles outstripped the benefits to what he called "micro magazines".

Farewell
Margo Oliver, one of Canada's best magazine food editors, dies at the age of 87.

In memoriam
Massey College unveils a journalism fellowship in memory of writer Val Ross, underwritten by two of her friends and neighbours.

A short resignation letter, presumably
Larry Thomas, the publisher of Reader's Digest Magazines Canada Limited, resigns after 31 years with the company when his job is eliminated in a "realignment".

A lucrative agreement
Canwest Global Communications announced it had settled a longstanding (13 year) class action lawsuit about the electronic rights of freelancers; the named writer in the suit, Heather Robertson, agreed to a $7.5 million settlement. Canwest needed to settle in order to get on with its own restructuring.

Farewell
Cynthia Brouse, a well-known and well-loved and respected editor, teacher and the doyenne of fact-checkers in Canada, dies of cancer in Toronto at 52.

Digitization for the nation
Magazines Canada's joint venture with Zinio in the Digital Newsstand had 153 titles signed up and had sold 2,138 digital subs in the first nine months.

We're still reporting on printing, though
Rogers announces that its venerable magazine Canadian Printer will no longer be, um, printed.

July

Neighbourly news
Canadian Geographic themes its July/August issue to explore the complicated relationship between Canada and the U.S. along the 49th parallel

Hope springs eternal
The former manager of the closed Duthie's Books to open new indy bookstore in Vancouver.

Classic, illustrated
The makeover of Toronto Life is described by its art director as an "homage to classic magazine design".

What's ours is ours, what's yours is ours
Rogers Publishing rolls out a new contract with its freelancers, stipulating that whatever they buy will be used across multiple platforms, though individual contracts between editors and writers will be "freely negotiated".

Book the bigger meeting room
It was announced that print, online and mobile staff at Rogers' LouLou magazine will all report now to a "director of multiplatform content".

Satire's grand old man
David Bentley, the co-founder of Frank magazine, was feted in Halifax for 50 years of afflicting the comfortable.

August

An interesting case
Thomson Reuters' Carswell division buys Canada Law Book and the four law-related magazine titles published by CLB Media, including Canadian Lawyer.

Local motion
Transcontinental Media sells Ottawa Business Journal and related magazines to local magazine and newspaper publishing group Great River Media.

Emigrating from the job
The founding publisher of Canadian Immigrant, Nick Noorani, resigns 7 years after launching the title from his dining room table; it was later bought by Torstar.

New sheriff in town
Keith Pelley, a vp of strategic planning at CTV, was named president of Rogers Media, thereby becoming the boss for all the company's consumer and trade magazines.

"Cringe-worthy"
Steve Maich, the editor of Canadian Business magazine, tees off on the federal government for its decision to close prison farms and to end the mandatory long-form census.

Sucking and blowing
Federation of BC Writers president Craig Spence says the BC government's priorities on arts funding is all wrong.

Typographic varmints?
Prairie Dog, a Regina arts, news and entertainment magazine, rewards its readers $10 and a T-shirt for finding typos.

No fairsies
The Canadian Printing Industries Association says it was disappointed that the Canada Periodical Fund allows public funding to be spent on printing outside the country. Bob Elliott, the president, said he hoped to convince the Heritage ministry of the error of its ways.

...and a grade point average of 4.3
Transcontinental Media redesigns and repositions its magazine Affaires Plus to become a+

Whipping up a story
Perennial freelancer and award-winning author Ian Brown is named writer-in-residence at the Stratford Chef's School.

September

Striking out on his own
Former vp of CLB Media Niel Hiscox buys the name and the automotive magazine titles after the company is broken up.

E-reader in chief
Former Toronto Life publisher Marina Glogovac is named chief marketing officer of Kobo, the global e-reading service offered by Indigo Books and Music.

A stronger draw
MagNet the industry conference held in June every year announces it is moving upscale to the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Toronto. Previously it had been at 89 Chestnut, but Magazines Canada felt the event had outgrown the facility.

They like us, they really like us!
The Hockey News crowed that its mobile app had been downloaded more than 1 million times since being launched in October 2008.

And they know where to spend it
The Aid to Publishers' grants under the Canada Periodical Fund were announced and they totalled almost $53 million to 484 titles.
A taxing time
The Ontario budget confirms that magazines will be bearing the full brunt of the 13% harmonized sales tax (HST). Curiously, newspapers don't.

Cynthia's elephant
A bunch of the late Cynthia Brouse's friends chipped in and helped to foster an orphan elephant in her memory. The elephant is called Shukuru and it lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Inside job
Western Living promotes executive editor Anicka Quin to be the new editor-in-chief of western Canada's largest shelter magazine.

She would have approved
Spacing magazine wins the $15,000 Jane Jacobs Prize.

Provocation for the nation
Maclean's stirs up Quebeckers when it calls their province the "most corrupt" in the country.

October

Rights grab?
Rogers Publishing was accused of syndicating articles online for which it did not have permission from the writers. The company said that it fell under the heading of "promotional"; an agent acting for the writers said this was baloney.

The out-of-towners
Cottage Life and British Columbia magazines win gold at the International Regional Magazine Awards (mostly American titles).

They're big supporters
Canadian Living magazine hires food director from one of its bigger advertisers, Kraft Foods; to be fair, she started out her career working in the magazine's test kitchen.

Farewell
Paul Rockett, a magazine and portrait photography trendsetter, dies in Vancouver at the age of 90.

Telling the Canadian magazine story
Magazines Canada announces it is going into the magazine business, publishing a biannual called Canadian Magazines canadien (no relation).

Honour in its time
Geist is named western magazine of the year.

I say it's bullshit and I say to hell with it
The mayor of Regina reacts badly to a Maclean's story about crime in his city.

Watch out about becoming an eastern elitist
Conservative gadfly Ezra Levant, ex of Western Standard magazine, moves to (gasp) Toronto to become a commentator on "Fox North", er, Sun TV.

The last bleat
Goats Across Canada magazine folds.

Next stop, designer jerseys
The Hockey News shucks newsprint and goes all-glossy.

November

Just what the doctor ordered
Redpoint Media announces it is going to be publishing Apple magazine for the unified Alberta Health Services, with total bimonthly circulation of 120,000.

Putting best faces forward
Flare magazine won overall cover of the year award at the Canadian Newsstand Awards; other gold winners by circulation were (small) This magazine; (mid-size) Canadian Art;  (large) LouLou; (extra large) Chatelaine; (SIPs) Maclean's Michael Jackson special.

Not on our racks, you don't
Shoppers Drug Mart "de-lists" Adbusters magazine after complaints about anti-Semitism by the Canadian Jewish Congress. The CJC denied it was promoting a boycott, but that's what it amounted to.

Depends on the kindness of friends

Fuse magazine mounts an appeal to its subscribers and supporters to raise $40,000 to keep it publishing.

Banking on controversy
A piggy bank made out of a real piggy and featured in Vancouver magazine and Western Living gift guides, outrages some

We're on your side
The National Assembly of Quebec unanimously adopted a motion opposing key elements of the propose copyright amendments, Bill C-32.

Zooming to profitability
The publisher of Zoomer magazine reports first profitable quarter.

December

The more the merrier
The National Magazine Awards announced sweeping changes to its rules and regs, including allowing small, impecunious magazines to get help in making as many entries as they want.

Every fact a checked fact II

The editor in chief of Reader's Digest Canada, Robert Goyette, says that fact-checking remains a priority, although he lets go the entire staff fact-checking department, "shifting to a variable cost model" which, translated, means that it is outsourced to freelancers. [See May]

Factum on freelancers
An Osgoode Hall law school associate professor, Giuseppina D'Agostino, brings out a textbook that says freelancers need to change the law, create a collective and negotiate a new deal with publishers. 

Is blogging good for your health?
Best Health magazine launches an awards program for the best blogs on subjects it covers -- beauty, cooking and healthy eating, fitness and personal growth. 

Mind the doors...
Quebecor's 24 Hours/Heures bumps Transcon's Metro by winning away the exclusive contract for distribution on the Montreal subway system.

Colour commentary
"Honeysuckle" is declared the colour of the year by Pantone. 

Cashing out
Halifax's Metro Guide Publishing (Halifax magazine, East Coast Living etc.)  is sold to its printer, Advocate Printing and Publishing. 

See? It works sideways, too
Maclean's launches an iPad edition.

Support will continue for Canada Periodical Fund

The Canada Periodical Fund is going to continue to be the principal support for Canadian magazines and paid community newspapers, according to a speech by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly. The announcement is one result of the comprehensive review of federal cultural policy and support for creative industries. It's something for which Magazines Canada has been lobbying.

Minister Joly signalled that the federal government recognizes the important role Canadian magazines play, both culturally and economically, and that Canadian Heritage officials will pursue their work to review and modernize the Canada Periodical Fund, all the while continuing to support the Canadian magazine sector.

"Whether they provide a guide to your own city or bring new intelligence to trade professionals, Canadian magazines build communities of readership that are unique and very important," said Scott Jamieson, Magazines Canada board chair. "Serving a geographic or linguistic group, focussed on an artistic practice, delivering entertainment and news, or exploring sexual identity, Canadian magazines' communities of readership are as diverse as Canadian society itself."

Is consistency the hobgoblin of the heritage ministry?*

The minister of Canadian Heritage, and by extension his department, can at least be given points for their consistency. Recently, as a result of a review process, Heritage has decided to terminate a program that supported independent performers and small scale independent music-making in favour of support for enterprises that are considered more commercially marketable.

If this sounds familiar, it is essentially the same process and outcome as has occurred in the periodicals industry; small literary, arts and cultural magazines being cut adrift if their paid circulation is less than 5,000 annually.

What's interesting is the apparent intentions of minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore. In Saturday's Globe and Mail he said that the Canada Council had its own funding and was free to help independent artists cut adrift by the end of the $1.35 million Canadian Musical Diversity Program. (This is essentially what he said to independent magazine publishers.)

“The Canada Council has their own envelope of funding – I believe it's $9-million. If they want to spend their money in a way to help independent artists, they're free to do that,” he said....

“The envelope they were looking for was basically to fund artists who have no interest in developing any kind of commercial opportunities for their music, that's just a different approach than what we have in mind,” Moore told the CBC.

Moore said yesterday the Conservatives' philosophical inclination is toward funding artists with commercial promise, a view Prime Minister Stephen Harper has espoused. “But not entirely,” Moore added.

“It's not my view that in order for art to have merit and value to society, it has to be commercially viable,” Moore said. “I'm not at all castigating independent artists and what their hopes are for their creations. … It's about funding things that are of a higher priority for government and for the industry.”

So, to paraphrase, it's not minister Moore's view that commercial viability is synonymous with excellence, but commercial projects are all the government wants to invest in.

It's hard not to agree with Gary Cristal, a manager of independent artists (and former acting head of the Canada Council's music branch) who told the Globe:

“They were Robin Hood in reverse. They robbed the poor to give to the rich.”

(As an aside, the musical diversity program, which is being cut, was administered by the Canada Council. This doesn't augur well for the one, small hope being nurtured by small literary, art and cultural publishers -- and Magazines Canada. They have been hoping that Heritage might somehow agree to shift some of its periodical funding over to the Council -- equivalent to the $1 million SALM (Support for Arts and Literary Magazines) portion of the Canada Magazine Fund -- as part of its merger of the CMF and the Publications Assistance Program into the Canada Periodical Fund next spring.

It will do little or no good to direct small publishers, and musicians, to the Canada Council for further support if there is no further funding.)

*"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Related posts:

• Give responsibility -- and money -- for small mags to the Canada Council, Mags Canada says
• Modify the circulation threshold? The answer is no, says minister Moore
• Time is ticking away for solution to small literary and cultural mag funding
• Does the government want to treat small mags and readers like cockroaches?
• Magazines Canada wants targetted program for small arts & literary mags
• Facebook group protests discontinuation of small arts and literary mag funding
  

Magazine funding overhaul delayed until 2010

The implementation of the Canada Periodical Fund has been delayed and will likely not come into force until 2010-11 fiscal year, according to Scott White, manager for periodical policy of the Department of Canadian Heritage (DCH).

Meanwhile, White said in an e-mail to the Independent Publishers Association of Ontario (IPAO) -- posted by Mastheadonline -- the existing programs (the Canadian Magazine Fund (CMF) and Publications Assistance Program (PAP)) will remain in place, but there is a good possibility there will be less money available. That's because, effective end of March, Canada Post is discontinuing its $15 million contribution to PAP as part of what has been a $70 million funding package. This money has not yet been replaced and the remainder of the funding depends on the forthcoming federal budget.

DCH has been working on a complete overhaul of its magazine support programs and has proposed a merger of CMF and PAP into one program called the Canada Periodical Fund.

Here is White's e-mail in full:

Things are not quite certain as so much depends on the available money. I should explain that we look at the CMF and the PAP (postal subsidy) together as forming a total package of about $75 million for magazines and community newspapers. In round numbers, the CMF is about $15 million and the PAP is about $60 million.

Depending on what happens to the budget request to replace the Canada Post money, we may move money between the programs to minimize the impact on the greatest number of publications. So the editorial funding part of the CMF in 2009-2010 may end up with less than the $10 million it had this year, which will affect the contributions that everyone receives.

I know everyone would like to know sooner, but, decisions on the federal budget are not made until January or even February. At this time, we are not planning on bringing in a new program or changing the eligibility rules of the existing programs in 2009-2010. Any new program, should it be approved by the government, would not come into place until April 2010. That much is certain.

Fuse magazine appeals to its subscribers for a $40,000 way out of a financial crisis

Fuse magazine, one of Canada's older arts and culture magazines, has been forced by a financial crisis to appeal for a bailout from its supporters in what they are calling their 40 for 40 campaign. Keying off their forthcoming 40th anniversary, they are trying to raise a total of $40,000 by March 31 of which they need to have  at least $10,000 in hand by December 1. 

A letter sent to subscribers and friends on Thursday details the situation this way, citing among other factors last year's decision by the federal government to exclude small-circulation arts, culture and literary titles from its new Canada Periodical Fund:

"Fuse has run into a financial crisis that we can't solve by shaving back our budgets or recruiting volunteers. Anyone who works in the cultural sector knows how increasingly vulnerable we have all become. Along with the closure of swimming pools, libraries and youth centres, the defunding of essential cultural organizations and alternative publications regardless of their value to the community is the result of a political climate shifting further away from the social good.

"The not-for-profit magazine community is declining as the commercial publishing model continues to dominate. Magazines operation outside of the mainstream industry, like Fuse, were further challenged this year by a 100% funding cut from Heritage Canada. The hit was both unexpected and impossible to fiscally absorb, and is being felt across small magazine publishing."

(As recently as 2008-09, Fuse received a grant of about $20,000 from the old Canada Magazine Fund's support for arts and literary magazines (SALM), which was discontinued last year. Magazines which had an annual, paid circulation of fewer than 5,000 copies -- mostly small, quarterly cultural titles like Fuse -- were left out of the Canada Periodical Fund because they're considered  "micro magazines", which are not businesses.)

Big funding changes require long transition, says Magazines Canada

Overhauling federal programs of support for the magazine industry is such a massive change, says Magazines Canada, that it is looking for a significant transition period, during which current programs need to be fully funded and functional. (How long? Certainly two or three years, at least through the 2009-10 government fiscal year.)

In a letter to the heritage minister, Magazines Canada President Mark Jamison said, in part:

The changes proposed in the consultation document are very substantial, including the elimination of the two primary programs serving the sector and their replacement with a single and very different program. If these changes move forward, they will impact the business plans and editorial decisions of periodical publishers across Canada. The development of a new program will be a complex task and will take time. We are also concerned with the length of time it will take to secure approvals in Ottawa, especially in light of a possible federal election prior to April 2009.

We urge you and your Cabinet colleagues to act immediately to ensure that the Publications Assistance Program and the Canada Magazines Fund continue and that they be fully funded at current levels through the 2009–2010 fiscal year or until the redesign process is complete and publishers have adequate time to analyze the new programs and plan for their implementation. In the case of the PAP, the funding level required through this transition period includes both the contribution amounts from Canadian Heritage and from Canada Post.

The announcement last week of the outcome of a comprehensive review was that Heritage is proposing to merge the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF) into one program called the Canada Periodical Fund.

Magazines Canada's strategy seems to include acknowledging the inevitability of changes, manage the transition and to obtain the best possible arrangement for Canadian magazines of all types. In a statement, Jamison said:

"The need for all parties to stay focused on the big picture is paramount. Based on our deliberations with members and other associations over many months, we will, in a few days be releasing top line perspectives on the DCH paper. The consensus at Magazines Canada is clear: we must work with the needs of all magazines at the table and, as stability and predictability are key goals, we must all recognize that a very carefully planned and executed transition to a new framework is just as important as the new policy framework itself."

Meanwhile, DCH has announced the dates for its "roundtable" discussions about its proposals:

Vancouver-February 11
Calgary-February 12
Winnipeg-February 14
Halifax-February 25
Montreal-February 27 and 28
Toronto-March 3 and 4

Printers' association hopes to change Heritage's mind about allowing printing outside of Canada

The president of the Canadian Printing Industries Association says he hopes to convince the Department of Canadian Heritage to change the Canada Periodical Fund to prevent public money from being spent to print magazines outside of Canada.

Bob Elliott says in a story on the PrintCan website that he is disappointed publishers are no longer required to print their magazines or newspapers in Canada to be eligible for the Canada Periodical Fund; he also said it was difficult to judge the impact of the relaxed regulation:

“Ultimately if there are tax dollars being used to support the printing of publications those Canadian tax dollars should be spent in Canada. This opens the door for that not to happen, for those dollars to be spent outside of Canada.”

2009 Year in Review

Each year, Canadian Magazines compiles a wholly arbitrary summary of some of the more interesting and occasionally meaningful stories from the industry during the year past. This year is no exception.

We think that we'll all be glad that 2009 is gone and that there is reason to be hopeful for the year to come.

January

Read 'em and weep
Ontario magazine publishers face a whopping 53% increase in the 50% of blue box recycling fees they're held responsible for.  

Money in wrinklies 
Moses Znaimer exercises an option to buy $1 milion in shares of Zoomer Media, the flagship of his burgeoning magazine and website publishing company for older Canadians. 
 
You've got to be flexible
Ascent, the yoga magazine, announced it is closing after 10 years of publication.

Seemed like a good idea at the time
Rogers Publishing announces the launch of EverBetter.ca, a site for the 50+ crowd. Less than a year later, amidst major layoffs, Rogers shuts the site down. 

Open to new opportunities
Esquire magazine debuts "flapvertising" on its cover, a little window that opens to reveal...an ad. 
 
All or nothing contracts I
Quebecor-owned TVA Publications tells freelance writers that they must sign an aggressive new contract or not work for their magazines.
 

My friends, and I think I can call you all my friends... 
Geez magazine runs a "write your own sermon" contest. 
 
We're apparently professional enough...
Magazines Canada cancels its School for Professional Publishing
 
Eat, drink and be digital 
Masthead magazine holds a party to launch its final issue as a print magazine.

February

Those wacky, poverty-striken artists 
Hill Strategies publish data derived from tax returns, that show arts workers' incomes are 37% less than the average worker in the labour force. 

Waste not 
Markets Initiative (now called Canopy) and Dollco Printing are lauded in the annual Print Action Environmental Printing Awards for their venture in producing the June 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic on paper made of wheat straw.  
 
Good news and bad news  
The new Canada Periodical Fund was announced. The good news was $75.5 million. The bad news was that small magazines  -- with less than 5,000 paid issues per year (which includes many of the country's best-known arts and literary quarterlies -- are left out of the program.  

Whatever Lola got... no longer applies  
The Canada Council reverted to its former practice, dropping support for controlled circulation arts and literary magazines -- the result of the so-called "Lola clause", named after the late arts publication. Now, to be eligible, publications need 50%+ paid circulation. 

March

We're mad as hell and we aren't going to take it

A group of small arts and literary magazines start a Facebook group, which quickly grows to more than 2,200 members to try and turn back the Heritage decision that puts a floor on funding under the new Canada Periodical Fund, thereby disqualifying small circulation pubs.

Thanks for the suggestion, but no thanks

In the face of an assertion by Rogers Publishing that it wouldn't sponsor the National Magazine Awards and that the awards should be suspended because of the parlous state of the economy, it was announced the program would go ahead regardless

Not so unlimited, then

Unlimited magazine, a publication from Venture Publishing of Edmonton, announces it is suspending its print edition and going online only. The editor, Kent Bruyneel, had barely started on the magazine, which was started in mid-2007, and he was out of a job. The reason? The economy.

Life's like that

Reader's Digest Canada lets go 15 people, including the English editor-in-chief Peter Stockland.

At least it's warm...

St. Joseph Media, publishers of (among other titles) Toronto Life, Fashion, Canadian Family, announces that there is to be a "short term 5% pay cut" by working a four-day week during July and August

Onwards and upwards

Masthead reports that there was a net gain of 42 titles in Canada during 2008.

Stylishly Into the sunset

The founding editor of Transcon's Style at Home magazine, Gail Johnston Habs, announces her retirement after 12 years at the magazine and 23 with Transcontinental.

Just what we needed

The announced harmonization of the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax means that magazine subscribers will take a whacking come June 2010.

April

Dino-might

The Royal Ontario Museum's quarterly magazine is re-launched with a new look from the design firm Hambly & Woolley Inc.

Suits them

Adbusters magazine won the right to continue its lawsuit against the Global Television network and to add the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a defendant. It was because the networks refused to air the magazine's anti-ad ads.

Green at last, thank goodness we are green at last

Geist magazine, after 19 years thinking about it, announced that the quarterly would be printed on FSC certified stock and in eco-friendly vegetable inks.

14, 15...17

The Financial Post magazine rips a page out of 200,000 copies of its April 2009 issue because of complaints about a story concerning Manulife CEO Domenic D'Allesandro.

Too soon

Derek Weiler, the well-respected editor of Quill & Quire magazine, dies suddenly at the age of 40, the result of a congenital heart defect.

Coverage story

Readers of The Tyee chip in more than $13,000 to help fund election reporting. 

Output

Rogers Publishing fires about 40 people in its consumer and b-to-b publishing operations.

Generous guy 
Patrick Walsh, the editor of Outdoor Canada magazine is named volunteer of the year by Magazines Canada. 

May

Fighting on a new front 
Legion magazine looks to sell single copies on the newsstands for the first time. 
 
A long fight, but a satisfying one
Freelancer Heather Robertson pressed a class action suit against Canada's largest media publishers for the resale of articles without compensation. The suit was settled with payment of $11 million (without admission of wrongdoing) and after the lawyers got their share, it should mean about $6 million in payouts.


Casting a new line 
Eastern Woods & Waters, which closed its print version in fall 2008, announced that it is relaunching as an online publication and uploading 24 years of print content. 

She holds the keys

Marie-José Desmarais moves from acting editor of Châtelaine to become its publisher.

Whose dress did you say it was?

Toronto Life magazine's style blog latched onto a motherlode of reader engagement when it published an innocuous item about a socialite's "vintage dress" which turned out to be a Queen Street designer's work. The comment floodgates opened and the hapless woman was forced to apologize.

June

Stylish landing

Jane Francisco, out of a job when St. Joseph Media closed Wish magazine in November, was appointed editor-in-chief of Transcon's Style at Home.

His other job

Terry Sellwood, the general manager of Quarto Communications (Cottage Life, explore) is elected chair of Magazines Canada.

Mom's the word

Caroline Connell of Today's Parent magazine was named editor of the year by the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME).

Western pride

Alberta Views named magazine of the year at the National Magazine Awards

The third R

Manitoba announces an 80% blue box levy on magazines.

We're the bosses

Ken Whyte, the publisher and editor of Maclean's and Kerry Mitchell publisher of Chatelaine, are named vice-presidents of Rogers Publishing; he responsible for all news and business titles, she adding the job of publisher of Flare and executive publisher of several trade and consumer titles.

Take it or leave it

Freelancers are dismayed by a new contract to be imposed by Transcontinental Media, essentially making themselves co-owners in perpetuity of any story written for a Transcon mag; and requiring that they sign the master agreement in order to get any assignments.

Still number one 
Chatelaine magazine remains number one in revenue among Canadian magazines, in an annual tally published by Mastheadonline, based in part on ad page data supplied by Leading National Advertisers.

 July

Selling burnout?
Tsang Media, which did national sales for a number of indy titles, announces it is winding up its business in Canada so its principal, Olive Tsang can move back to Hong Kong.

A cultural career
Diane Davy was named executive director of the Cultural Careers Council of Ontario. Davy, well-known in the magazine and book world, had at one time run the Owl Group, Key Porter Books , been active in PEN Canada and chaired the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association.

Not Pages...
One of Canada's relative handful of independent magazine outlets, Pages Books and Magazines, announces that it is to close in August.

Going to the big time
Derek Webster, the founding publisher of Maisonneuve magazine, resigns to become the managing editor of Reader's Digest Canada.


Getting traction
The Canadian Freelance Union, after several years of fitful progress, finally announces that it will hold its inaugural meeting.

Turn back before it's too late
A delegation from the freelance community meets with Transcontintal Media, pressing it to change its policy on requiring freelancers to sign a contentious "master agreement".

We told you publishers were tough guys
The publisher of Naked Eye magazine in Montreal, Burton Rice, is charged with gangsterism and fraud in relation to a raid in June.

Cloudy horizon
Rogers Communications Inc. forecast that its media division, including its consumer and trade magazine properties (plus TV stations and the Toronto Blue Jays) would see a decline in earnings of between 4% and 10%.

August

One thing after another
The decision by the hard-pressed British Columbia government to freeze lottery funds adds one more hardship to magazine publishers in the province, already facing cuts to the BC Arts Council, the harmonized sales tax adding 7% to subs starting next July and the discontinuation of funding for small magazines under the new Canada Periodical Fund.

Marco wished well
Marco Ursi, the editor of Mastheadonline and, before that, of the discontinued print edition of Masthead magazine, resigns to go to teachers' college.

An ex frog
Another of Canada's best independent magazine outlets, Frog Hollow Books in Halifax, announces it is closing.

Well, there's lots of coast
The Nova Scotia Policy Review changes its name and casts it circulation net wider by becoming Coastlands: the Maritime Policy Review.

Major purge
Six Canadian Business staffers and the editor-in-chief of MoneySense magazine are let go.

September

Bigger, better, also contains lanolin
Border Crossings magazine of Winnipeg, launches new, larger format, new typeface.

A partnership in fitness 
Best Health magazine, from Reader's Digest Canada, teams up with web provider Sympatico to provide health and fitness content.

Out of the woodwork
The Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers listserv tops 400 members.

It's a bit easier being green
Green Living magazine launches a digest-sized Green Living Guide in print, with more than 375 stores and services; it complements online guides in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto.

Design supremo
Maclean's art director Christine Dewairy takes over responsibility for the art direction of Canadian Business, MoneySense and Profit magazines, which now share one publisher and one AD.

100% increase in titles
Quarto Communications, the publishers of Cottage Life and explore magazines, buy Outdoor Canada and Canadian Home Workshop from Transcontinental Media.

Sign of the times?
Toronto Life takes its name and logo off Toronto Life Square at Yonge & Dundas.

No more Mr. Nice Freelancer
Freelance writers are urged to boycott Transcontinental Media in protest against its so-called "master agreement" and rights grab.

October

It could be a bigger tent
The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association (AMPA) says more Alberta magazines should qualify for provincial funding. Right now, only cultural titles qualify.

Acknowledging the obvious
The National Magazine Awards announce several online publishing categories.

The grip tightens
Longtime Today's Parent publisher Ildiko Marshall announces she is retiring at the end of the year.

A promise of spring
Former editor of Canadian Gardening, Beckie Fox, announces that she is starting a new gardening magazine, Garden Making, based in her home in Niagara on the Lake.

November

Print... plus
Strategy magazine publishes the first "augmented reality" cover in Canada with its November issue.

Web of outrage
The boycott of Transcontinental Media by freelancers gets some new profile with the launch of the site "Bad Writing Contracts".

Greatest expectations
The editor of Halifax magazine and a Halifax freelancer compile Atlantic Canada's 100 Greatest Books.

What a reaction!
The editor of Allergic Living magazine slams Chatelaine for an article on the ban in peanut products in schools, calling the article "insensitive", "cynical" and "snide".

Making it right
Muscular TV handyman Mike Holmes launches HOLMES magazine.

Shocker
Maryam Sanati let go as editor of Chatelaine. Unsophisticated observers say it's because of the peanut article. Others say it's just the logical outcome of the total makeover of Rogers management.

Hardly had time to redecorate
Mere months after being named editor-in-chief of Transcon's Style at Home, Jane Francisco jumps to Rogers to become editor-in-chief of Chatelaine.

December

In and out
Charlotte Empey named editor-in-chief of the Metro chain of freesheet newspapers, replacing Diane Rinehart.

Professor Newman
Well known author, magazine and newspaper editor Peter C. Newman appointed visiting
 professor at Ryerson University.

Redwood rebranding
Though it was coy about what it would actually be called, Redwood Custom Communications (now owned by Transcontinental Media), Canada's largest custom publisher, announced that it was going to  take a new name, probably in the spring.

New partnership, new categories
The Kenneth R. Wilson awards for trade publications adds a number of new categories including, for the first time, a "magazine of the year". It's one outcome of an evolving partnership between the Canadian Business Press and Magazines Canada and the management of the trade awards by Barbara Gould, who also runs the National Magazine Awards.

Da-da-da dum, da-dee-da- dum...
Toronto Life launches a wedding annual.

Up, up and away
Spafax, the custom publisher of enRoute magazine for Air Canada, takes over the controls at the custom magazine Experience, published for Bombardier Aerospace.