The federal government in this fiscal year will spend about $40 million on literacy. The $17 million represents an amount that was cut, so $40 million is what is left over in this fiscal year.
But what's especially difficult is that the government has changed its priority so that it will only fund national organizations and will not fund provincial or local groups any further. Groups such as the Newfoundland coalition, which relies 100% on funding from the federal government, will probably disappear.