Question Period Note: Canada Periodical Fund

As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government provided additional temporary relief measures to cultural, heritage and sport organizations, including periodical publishers, during the pandemic.
The modernization of the CPF has launched with the intake of applications for funding under the ATP component in 2021-22. From 2021–22 to 2025-26, the funding provided will gradually shift from rewarding print circulation to rewarding investment in editorial and journalistic content and reaching readers, regardless of the distribution channel.

• The Government of Canada offered additional support to magazines and community newspapers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing magazine and community newspaper clients received a $15.4 million top-up in 2020-21, and an additional $10 million in 2021-22.
• Also, through the Special Measures for Journalism, the Government of Canada provided $45.4 million in 2020-21 to 792 new recipients, including free, digital and small-circulation periodicals, and will provide an additional $21.5 million in 2021-22.
• The modernization of the Canada Periodical Fund launched in 2020, which will support investment in Canadian editorial and journalistic content, regardless of the platform.

• The Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) provides financial assistance to Canadian print magazines, non-daily newspapers and digital periodicals to enable them to overcome market disadvantages and continue to provide Canadian readers with the content they choose to read.
• The program has three components: Aid to Publishers, Business Innovation and Collective Initiatives. The bulk of funding is distributed through the Aid to Publishers component, which uses a funding formula based primarily on the number of copies sold and gives publishers the flexibility to spend funds as they see fit.
• Funding amounts change from year to year, based on circulation and other factors. In 2021-22, the Aid to Publishers component of the CPF provided funding to 755 periodicals (385 print magazines, 291 print community newspapers, 65 digital magazines and 14 digital community newspapers), including:
o 15 Indigenous periodicals (published in 3 Indigenous languages);
o 95 ethno cultural periodicals (published in 35 foreign languages); and
o 22 official language minority community periodicals.
• The Business Innovation component provides financial support to eligible small and mid-sized printed magazine and digital periodical publishers. It encourages innovation to adapt to changing market conditions and contributes to the diversity of content sought by Canadian readers. In 2020-21, this component provided funding to 82 projects, namely 47 print magazine and 35 digital magazine projects (including 10 digital start-ups). Among the digital projects were 3 ethnocultural, 1 LGBTQ2+ and 1 indigenous magazine, while the print projects involved 3 ethnocultural and 1 Indigenous magazine. Projects supported may include the adoption or use of new media, mobile applications, advertising and promotional campaigns, web design and development, and expansion into new markets.
• The CPF also funded 17 projects through the Collective Initiatives component in 2020-21. One popular theme among many of the submitted projects was the need to identify fake news and disinformation, a serious problem in today’s digital age.
• It should be noted that the revenues of several periodicals have decreased significantly over the last few years due in part to a reduction in the placement of advertisements.
CPF Modernization
• The Government has launched the modernization of the CPF with the intake of applications for funding under the ATP component in 2021-22. The deadline was December 8, 2020.
• From 2021–22 to 2025-26, the funding provided will gradually shift from rewarding print circulation to rewarding investment in editorial and journalistic content and reaching readers, regardless of the distribution channel. The new ATP formula will be fully implemented in 2025-26.
• Because more and more readers continue to consume content in a digital format, a new sub-component of the ATP has been created to fund qualified publishers who distribute digital-only content.
• In 2020-21, the first year of the modernization of the CPF, the BI component will broaden the type of eligible periodicals, include community newspapers and increase its budget by $1 million.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Magazine and Community Newspaper Industries
• Canadian magazines and newspapers have added financial pressures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of retail outlets, most notably Chapters Indigo, has affected newsstand sales. Many community papers have stopped printing and delivering their print copies, while some have closed operations completely. Advertising, a major source of revenue for both industries has also dropped dramatically and will likely remain low due to the economic downturn from the pandemic.
• In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the Government provided additional temporary relief for these organizations and to help them plan for the future over a 2-year period.
• 2020-21: To assist publishers through the pandemic, the Department expedited the processing of ATP applications for 2020-21 and provided the same amount of funding to current eligible publishers that they received in 2019-20.
o The Department provided a top-up to 571 recipients of ATP for a total of $15.4 million.
o The Department also implemented a new CPF component, Special Measures for Journalism ($45.4M) to assist free, digital and small circulation periodicals (those not normally eligible for ATP). There were 792 recipients.
• 2021-22: The Department provided a formula-based top-up to recipients of the ATP component for the 2021-22 cycle. There were 754 periodicals funded for a total of $10 million.
o In October 2021, the Department launched for a second year Special Measures for Journalism with a total budget of $21.5 million, as promised as part of Budget 2021.

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