Huge postal rate increases loom

The Western Catholic Reporter faces a huge increase in mailing costs due to a federal government decision to cut postal subsidies for publications across Canada.

The cost of mailing each week’s issue of the WCR will increase by about $800 a week effective Nov. 1. That represents a total cost of roughly $35,000 a year.

The increase is due to changes in the way Heritage Canada’s Publications Assistance Program (PAP) calculates subsidies for hundreds of print publications across Canada.

PAP was set up in response to a World Trade Organization ruling that a general subsidy the Canadian government gave directly to Canada Post to support the Canadian publishing industry represented an unfair subsidy under WTO regulations. The federal government then set up PAP which provides subsidies for mailing costs to individual publications.

The heritage department is also predicting that its funding for the program in the next fiscal year will be cut by $4 million or eight per cent. The WCR calculates that if that funding cut is approved, our mailing costs will increase by a further $28,000 per year.

The $63,000 cut in the PAP subsidy will be on top of an expected postal rate increase which normally occurs in January.

Newspapers and magazines across Canada are being affected by the changes. The WCR’s view is that while the $49.4 million PAP is a tiny portion of the federal government’s overall budget, it makes a major contribution to Canadian culture by enabling many publications to reach a wide audience.

WCR readers who wish to express their concerns about the changes may email Finance Minister Ralph Goodale at Goodale.R@parl.gc.ca, Heritage Minister Liza Frulla at Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca, or Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan at McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca.

You may write to any member of Parliament, postage free, at House of Commons, Ottawa, K1A 0A6.

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