The Publications Assistance Program

Reaching Readers from Coast to Coast to Coast

Canadian Heritage contribution to the 2005-2006 budget: $49.4 million Number of titles funded: 1,181

The Publications Assistance Program (PAP) is managed by the Department of Canadian Heritage, in partnership with the Canada Post Corporation. The PAP provides financial support to offset the mailing costs of eligible Canadian magazines and non-daily newspapers mailed in Canada for delivery in Canada.

The PAP is designed to ensure that Canadians across the country continue to have equitable access to magazines and non-daily newspapers with high levels of diverse Canadian content. This program also helps ensure that Canadian creators are able to continue showcasing their work in these publications.

2005-2006 Program Highlights

In 2005-2006, the Publications Assistance Program successfully completed the second cycle of the Program’s triennial process with a review and assessment of almost 1,200 publications.

In November 2005, new funding levels for paid circulation periodicals and unpaid request circulation magazines were introduced in order to respond to postal rate increases and continued demand on the Program.

The Program’s summative evaluation was released in February 2006. Overall, the findings of the evaluation were positive and the administration of the Program was found to be effective and efficient. Despite increases in postal rates which have reduced the benefit of the subsidy, evaluators concluded that the Program continues to provide value to publishers. The evaluation also identified, however, the need for more precision in program documentation, some delay in implementation of funding streams in priority areas, and a lack of regular and timely statistics for program measurement. Work to correct these and other identified issues was begun in 2005-2006 and will continue into 2006-2007.

For more information on the evaluation findings, please consult:

www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/em-cr/evaltn/2005/index-eng.cfm

In 2003, the Program created and launched new eligibility criteria for ethnocultural periodicals to encourage greater participation in the Program. In 2005-06, a survey was commissioned which will provide a comprehensive listing of ethnocultural periodicals and an overview of the nature of the evolving ethnocultural press in Canada. This work is to be completed in 2006-2007.

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