QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Canadian Heritage
Canada Book Fund
December 6, 2023
Thank you, minister, and welcome to the Senate.
When I meet with members of the Canadian publishing industry, many of the concerns they have expressed over the years remain outstanding. The Canada Book Fund has not seen an increase in its funding in over two decades, resulting in a 55% loss in the actual value of the fund.
The good news is that in its 2021 election campaign, the Liberal Party promised to increase funding to the Canada Book Fund by 50%, a commitment that was reinstated in the ministerial mandate letter. However, to date, this commitment has not been fulfilled. Can you inform the Senate when the government is going to meet this commitment from the previous election?
Thank you for your question. In the last budget and the fall economic statement, I think we saw that our government is taking a very reasonable approach to act quickly on things that can help Canadians at a time when the country’s economic situation is still uncertain. We’ve introduced targeted measures on health and provincial health transfers, the housing crisis and help for the most economically vulnerable.
However, our government has always been very clear in its desire to support the cultural industry, and that’s why we committed to enhancing the fund in our 2021 platform.
I fully intend to keep the commitments that we made at an appropriate time, including commitments regarding public finances, which are very important. I’m very proud of the role that I’m playing today.
Minister, as you know, there are more than 200 book publishers in communities across our country. Increased and sustained support for Canadian literature is the only way we can guarantee that Canadians get to see and read their own stories.
Given the vital role that the Canada Book Fund plays in fostering young and upcoming writers and those independent publishers willing to take on the risk of developing unpublished writers, will you impress upon the Minister of Finance the urgent need to address this in the next budget?
Let me say that our government is fully committed to providing additional supports to culture, including our writers and editors, in other words the entire book publishing sector. That’s why we’ve made some very ambitious commitments, despite a difficult economic context. I will be working very hard with all my colleagues to fulfill these commitments between now and the next election campaign.
