Magazines Canada Responds to March 2012 Federal Budget

Apr 9, 2012

Last week’s federal budget maintains support for the Canada Periodical Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts at current levels.

The Finance Minister positioned the budget as a balance of responsible spending and expenditure reductions.

For the Department of Canadian Heritage, the budget says savings will come from plans to “streamline corporate support functions, consolidate office space and improve the efficiency of operating processes, improve processes for managing programs and operations, and prioritize grants and contributions.”

What all this means will need to be determined over the coming days. The Department’s spending reductions, coming in at 6.9% of the overall budget (including the Heritage department and all its related agencies, such as the CBC, Telefilm, etc.) is around the middle of the pack when compared to other departments, so it appears heritage and culture has not been cut more heavily than other sectors. Nevertheless, these changes will be significant and efforts to consolidate may lead to administrative delays in programs. Of these reductions, CBC appears to be impacted quite heavily with its cuts making up more than half of all cuts in the sector. The Heritage portfolio will reduce spending by $52.2 million in 2012-13, $130.7 million in 2013-14 and by $191.1million in 2014-15 (this includes savings at CBC, Telefilm, Library and Archives, etc.)

The budget is silent on the status of the Digital Economy Strategy—an area of great importance to Canada’s magazine media. At the same time, investment in research and development is a main theme of the budget. The government makes commitments to “double investments through the Industrial Research Assistance Program; provide new support for partnerships between businesses and universities; make new investments in advanced research infrastructure on our college and university campuses and streamline and improve the tax incentive program for business innovation.” The extent to which these initiatives can facilitate magazine media’s ability to develop innovative digital applications and cultivate an online presence remains to be seen.

Magazines Canada has issued a statement supporting the government’s decision to maintain funding for the Canada Periodical Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts. These are the principal programs delivering funds for our industry and we agree with the Minister’s decision to maintain program funding as a priority. In the coming days, Magazines Canada will be communicating with the Minister’s office and the department to obtain a better understanding of changes that will come as a result of the department’s spending reduction plans and work with the department on delivery expectations.

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