Good morning. My name is Anna Tores, and I'm the executive director of the BC Association of Magazine Publishers. Thank you for the opportunity to present.
The BC Association of Magazine Publishers represents, connects, and promotes the B.C. magazine industry. BCAMP membership is made up of more than 75 titles, including arts and culture, news, business, lifestyle, leisure, and special interest magazines. British Columbia's magazines are part of a successful cultural policy story. Our federal cultural policy endeavours to ensure that Canadian creators of cultural products, like books, TV, and magazines, have space on our airwaves and on our newsstand shelves so that Canadian content is available and so that our marketplace is not totally dominated by foreign--mostly American--products.
We are pleased in the magazine sector to be able to boast that about 41% of Canadian purchases of consumer magazines are Canadian titles. This compares very favourably with other cultural sectors where the greater share of the market is taken up by U.S. content. We want to do better, and we are committed as an industry to attracting more Canadians and encouraging them to buy and read more Canadian magazines. Our goal is to have a majority of sales and readership in our own market.
In our brief, you will see that our recommendation is that the federal government endorse this goal and continue to support efforts to build Canadian readership.
You have our full brief, so I won't repeat it all, but please allow me to focus on the distribution of Canadian content magazines, in particular the importance of the publications assistance program, in making Canadian magazines available nationally.
A year ago this month, the Government of Canada directed the Canada Post Corporation to maintain its contribution to the publications assistance program until at least March 2009. We welcome and appreciate this action. Canada Post still intends to withdraw its $15 million contribution at that time, a date that is not far off.
It's important that government and our sector work together on confronting this issue, determining how to support magazine distribution and the future role of Canada Post in this process. A reduction of $15 million of support from the postal assistance program would cause an immediate 31% increase in postage costs for the average magazine. For national circulation magazines, there are simply no alternative options for subscription sales.
If the PAP is reduced by 25%, the effects will be many. It will mean cutting back on the amount of editorial and Canadian content pages that can be produced. It will mean fewer jobs and assignments for Canada's writers, creators, illustrators, and photographers.
The fact that some magazines won't survive means there will be fewer Canadian magazines in the marketplace and less choice for readers. It will also drastically alter the way magazines are delivered to Canadians because Canada Post will no longer be an affordable option. If the industry is forced into alternative delivery methods, it could mean prohibitive distribution costs, especially in rural areas of the country. This will mean that Canadians living outside major urban centres will not have the same access as others to affordable magazines.
Canada Post's withdrawal from the PAP effectively puts an end to a century-long distribution partnership and to a highly successful subscription-based delivery model that has evolved because of federal government policy.
What we are asking today is for the finance committee to recommend that adequate budgets be maintained for the publications assistance program. This can be achieved either through direction to Canada Post that the crown corporation maintain its support or that this portion of funding be delivered as part of the budget of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Carving out a space for the Canadian voice has always been a challenge in Canada, for two reasons. The country's geography, with a relatively small population spread across a huge land mass, makes magazine distribution more difficult and costly than in many other countries. Culturally, competing with the enormous size and influence of the U.S. entertainment industry is daunting.
Before we allow drastic cuts to successful programs, we ought to be looking at how we can do things differently and how we can ensure there continues to be a choice of Canadian content available across the country.
The magazine sector has been highly effective in utilizing public investment to ensure a healthy presence for Canadian options, perspectives, and information, thanks in large part to the postal assistance program. This is why it's absolutely critical that the $50 million contribution to PAP be maintained by either Canada Post or the federal government. Stability is required until Canada's magazine policy has been reviewed and understood.
Thank you for allowing the BC Association of Magazine Publishers to appear today.