The Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) and l’Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL) would like to see the federal government keep their commitment of increasing the Canada Book Fund in this year’s budget.

In announcing the online letter-writing campaign, the ACP points out that a directive from the most recent mandate letter for the minister of Canadian heritage was to increase key writing and publishing programs, including the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Public Lending Right Program. In their 2021 platform, the Liberal Party of Canada said they would increase the budgets for those three programs by 50%. This directive to increase the Canada Book Fund has not been met by the government in the previous two federal budgets, the ACP says.

“This lack of action is not tenable. The government must not let down the book publishing industry yet again,” the ACP said in a statement. “This lack of support from the federal government is creating an unstable environment that will have a negative ripple effect on the future of Canada’s publishing sector.”

The ACP and ANEL are asking book lovers, publishing professionals, and champions of Canadian writing to get in touch with their members of Parliament to ensure this increase is included in the 2024 federal budget.