A new petition is urging the federal government to bolster its support for the publishing industry.

The document, which was made public in late December, calls for a number of different initiatives: a GST exemption for books, the re-establishment of the preferential postal rate for books, and the introduction of a personal tax credit to be applied to purchases from accredited booksellers.

Petition E-1368, which will remain open until April 20, was initiated by Louis Fortier, a member of the l’Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois, and is sponsored by Sherbrooke NDP MP François Choquette. To date, more than 370 signatures have been acquired, mostly from inside Quebec. Five-hundred names are required for the petition to be presented in front of the House of Commons.