Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee. My name is Bruce Creighton. While my day job is president of the Business Information Group, I'm here today in my capacity as director of the Canadian Business Press.
It has been said that for every industry, profession, or business in Canada there is a specialty publication aimed directly at keeping its participants informed about their businesses, about what's new and interesting to them, and what trends they can expect in their respective fields. However, since this type of business media is so carefully targeted to specialized audiences, many people are simply unaware of its existence or of how broad the industry really is.
Doctors, lawyers, teachers, construction companies, oil workers, grocers, benefits professionals, dentists, pharmacists, welders, pilots, hard goods retailers, and automobile dealers all have their own publication geared to their particular needs.
The Canadian Business Press is the industry association for Canada’s 740 business, professional, and farm publications. In fact, the Business Information Group's parent company, Glacier, is the largest publisher of farm publications in the country. Industry publications known as business to business, or B2B, represent 27% of all magazine titles in this country, 25% of the sector's revenues and expenses, and 29% of the industry's full- and part-time employment.
Many of you would be familiar with our members' titles, which include: Canadian Consulting Engineer, Journal of the Canadian Dental Association, Oilweek, and Québec habitation.
In early 2009 the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, announced the creation of the Canada periodical fund. The announcement, which stemmed from a budget 2009 commitment, is set to provide Canada’s magazines and community newspapers with a total of $75.5 million to support their publications. The Canadian Business Press strongly endorses the objectives of this program and thanks the minister for his foresight in this matter.
Our industry is in a time of transition: increased foreign competition, transformation to digital media, new business models, and a bruising recession impacting readers and advertisers alike. Any reductions in government support will no doubt push many magazine titles out of business.
Unfortunately, the funding formula of past programs, the Canada magazine fund and the publishers assistance program, and the one initially proposed for the Canadian periodical fund fail to fully appreciate the cultural and economic significance of B2B publications. The formula favours broad-based readership rather than narrow vertical market publications like those of the Business Press.
Our publications require extremely high penetration rates because of our business model. B2B periodicals have always received a lower portion of the funds designed to support the magazine industry, a portion of which the Canadian Business Press finds unjust. My company, the Business Information Group, is faced with challenges stemming from existing programs and regulations. I cannot, for instance, insert an upstart publication that we're trying to get off the ground to cover a new vertical market into an existing publication and still receive funding from the publications assistance program. This stifles growth and in many cases leaves an industry seeking information unserved.
While I applaud the Government of Canada for revisiting the eligibility criteria for the Canadian periodical fund and hope that many of the aforementioned issues will be addressed, I hope this presentation has demonstrated that B2B publications have different needs from their consumer peers. Therefore, to enhance the viability of this industry, the Canadian Business Press recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance are the following.
One, the Government of Canada should expand the eligibility of the Canadian periodical fund to recognize the uniqueness of business publishers. Secondly, the federal government, under a separate program, should increase funding for the business publishing sector to assist the industry through this period of transition.
With that, I thank you for your time. I look forward to any questions you might have.