Question Period Note: Budget of the Canada Book Fund

On April 17, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a $500M investment in the creation of the COVID-19 Emergency Fund to support organizations responsible for culture, heritage and sport. The fund is an additional and temporary aid measure. Funds re-allocated through Supplementary Estimates will bring further assistance to organizations supported by PCH.

• The Canada Book Fund provides approximately $36.3M directly to some 300 Canadian book publishers and industry organizations each year.
• In 2020-21, as part of the Emergency Support Fund, the Canada Book Fund also provided more than $10.5M in emergency payments to recurring clients of the Program. Moreover, a temporary component of $10M was introduced for 2020-21 to help Canadian book distributors maintain their operations and support the sale of Canadian books.
• In 2020-21, the Canada Book Fund will provide an additional $5.75M to Canadian book publishers and industry organizations to support the sustainable production and distribution of accessible digital books.
• This additional support includes part of the $1.3M in program funds that were re-allocated from 2019-20. This funding was not able to be fully disbursed or spent in 2019 20 due to the pandemic. The reallocation of funds will also help other programs face this year’s challenges.

• The Canada Book Fund (CBF) is the Government's principal measure in support of Canadian books. It aims to ensure access to a diverse range of Canadian-authored books in Canada and around the world.
• The CBF provides annual funding of approximately $36.3M through two streams: Support for Publishers (SFP) and Support for Organizations (SFO). SFP ($30.7M) provides funding to Canadian-owned publishers for the production and marketing of Canadian-authored books. The SFP stream includes a budget envelope of $400,000 for internships and business planning. SFO ($5.6M) provides funding to book industry organizations and associations for collective projects that strengthen industry infrastructure and develop the market for Canadian books.
• Program funding flows to approximately 300 publishing businesses and not-for-profit industry organizations in over 80 cities in all 10 provinces and in one territory (Nunavut).
• Each year, publishers supported by the Program produce about 6,500 new Canadian-authored books, employ approximately 2,500 Canadians and generate $400M in sales of Canadian authored books, which includes export sales of more than $120M.
Initiative on Accessible Digital Books
• Budget 2019 announced an investment of $22.8M over 5 years (2019-20 to 2023-24) to support the sustainable production and distribution of accessible digital books by Canadian independent publishers through the CBF.
• An amount of $1,342,700 from the funds originally allocated for 2019-20 will be re-allocated to 2020 21 through the Supplementary Estimates. At the end of the 2019-2021 fiscal year, the pandemic delayed both the approval of some funding requests and some anticipated spending by clients. Part of the investment that was allocated for 2019-20 was therefore not disbursed. The reallocation of these sums to 2020-21 will allow funding to be disbursed to projects that were received during the last fiscal year without affecting the portion of funding reserved for 2020-21. An amount of $750,000 will be used towards the initiative on Accessible Digital Books.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Canadian book publishing industry
• The COVID-19 pandemic added financial pressure on Canadian publishers and other industry players, such as bookstores and distributors. The temporary closure of independent bookstores and chains, such as Indigo and Renaud-Bray, resulted in a significant reduction in book sales across the country. At the peak of the pandemic, the drop in bookstore sales reached 70%. In this context, Canadian publishers had to delay or cancel the launch of new books. Sales of digital books have surged, but not enough to offset the losses caused by the decrease in print book sales.
• In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the assessments of financial assistance files for 2020-21 were carried out in an accelerated mode, with recurring recipients of the CBF receiving the same amounts as in 2019-20.
• As part of Phase 1 of the Emergency Support Fund, the CBF provided emergency payments equivalent to 25% of amounts received in 2019-2020 to recurring recipients of the Program. The emergency payments totaled more than $10.5M.
• As part of Phase 2 of the Emergency Support Fund, temporary funding for book distribution was introduced. The Support for Distribution (SFD) component of the CBF is designed to provide temporary emergency financial relief to Canadian book distributors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a budget of $10M for 2020-21, the SFD will support the Canadian book industry by helping Canadian book distributors maintain their operations and support the sale of Canadian books. This support will contribute to maintain a robust book supply chain, ensuring access to a diverse range of Canadian books.
Canada’s presence as Guest of Honour country at the Frankfurt Book Fair
• In July 2020, the Government of Canada and the Frankfurter Buchmesse agreed to postpone featuring Canada as Guest of Honour country until the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair. The postponement will provide an opportunity to showcase Canada’s publishing industry and promote the sale of Canadian titles at the Frankfurt Book Fair in its full capacity.

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