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An Overview of Canada’s Contemporary Book Trade in Light of (Nearly) Four Decades of Policy Interventions

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Abstract

Canada’s book trade is fascinating not only because it really consists of two book trades—the Anglophone and the Francophone—but also because it is a site of intense and sustained policy interventions designed to foster greater domestic control. Examining the country’s book policies, Statistics Canada data, trade association membership rosters and trade directories, this paper reveals that Canada’s contemporary book trade is characterized by three features: circa 40 years of government interventions in response to foreign dominance; the central role of foreign firms despite these interventions; and the dominance of Toronto and Montreal as domestic sites of book production.

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Notes

  1. However, anecdotes suggest these guidelines are flexible, as shown by two examples. In one case, a book publisher fired its editorial staff and subcontracted out their work to an Anglo-Indian book packager. In order for the book publisher to still qualify for BPIDP subsidies, the packager had to hire Canadian staff. The packager then contacted the recently fired Canadian editors and offered them employment at a level of compensation even lower than the meager pay they had received from their former employer. In the second case, books were written and edited by Canadians, but designed for export to the US market, including use of US and not Canadian spelling. The first case certainly insures that Canadians are employed, though one wonders if the drafters of BPIDP policy intended the funds to be used to fire workers and then indirectly re-hire them as sub-sub-contractors, thereby further reducing their already meager wages and benefits. The second case points to the utility of Aid to Publishers grants as a means of export promotion, though one wonders to what degree books designed for US markets reflect any sort of substantive ‘Canadian’ content.

  2. Interestingly, both periodicals receive financial support from The Canada Council.

  3. Statistics Canada classifies the houses surveyed by their main language of publication. Perusing recent trade journals (e.g., The book trade in Canada) reveals that only a slim minority of houses publish in both languages, so this breakdown seems reasonable.

  4. All websites were accessed during July 2009. The urls are as follows: Association of Canadian Publishers, http://www.publishers.ca/membership-search.htm; Literary Press Group, http://www.lpg.ca/?q=publishers; Association nationale des éditeurs de livre, http://www.anel.qc.ca/Repertoire.asp; Canadian Publisher’s Association, http://www.pubcouncil.ca/membership.php. Data were entered into a spreadsheet for further sorting and analysis in Excel and Minitab; they were mapped using ArcMap GIS.

  5. Dates of establishment were found for 253 publishing houses.

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank: Victoria Tasker, Katie Hemsworth and Kayla Wagg for their able research assistance; Jennifer D.B. Lackey for editorial assistance and feedback on earlier drafts; and especially Sharon Janzen (but also Colleen Beard, Loris Gasparotto and Alun Hughes) for GIS and cartographic assistance. Research funding was generously provided by Brock University’s Internal SSHRC, BUAF and Experience Works grants. The thoughts expressed here are the author’s own.

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  1. Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

    Jeff Boggs

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Correspondence to Jeff Boggs.

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Boggs, J. An Overview of Canada’s Contemporary Book Trade in Light of (Nearly) Four Decades of Policy Interventions. Pub Res Q 26, 24–45 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-010-9152-9

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