Canada’s book sector stands with Nova Scotia’s arts community ahead of province-wide rallies against budget cuts to cultural programs

TORONTO, ONTARIO—(March 4, 2026)—Organizations representing Canada’s publishing, writing, and bookselling sectors stand in solidarity with artists, cultural workers, and arts organizations across Nova Scotia as communities prepare to gather at rallies throughout the province calling for the reversal of sweeping cuts to arts and culture funding.

The proposed provincial budget includes a 30% reduction to operational funding for arts, culture, and heritage organizations, a $14 million cut to discretionary funding within the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage, and the elimination or reduction of more than 70 grant programs totalling over $130 million.

We are especially alarmed by the Government of Nova Scotia’s decision to eliminate all provincial funding for independent publishers through the cancellation of the Publishers Assistance program. This devastating cut effectively reduces annual support for publishers from $700,000 to zero, making Nova Scotia the only province in Canada that does not invest in its own book publishers.

The publishers affected by this decision are independent, Nova Scotia–based companies that make significant contributions to the province’s economy, educational landscape, and cultural life—and to Canada’s publishing ecosystem as a whole. Collectively, these presses publish 100+ new books each year, employ local staff, contract local freelancers, work with Nova Scotian authors and illustrators, and supply books to schools, libraries, bookstores, and readers across the country.

Independent publishers are often the sole purveyors of local voices and regional perspectives. With this funding eliminated, fewer Nova Scotian stories will be written, published, and shared. At a time when cultural sovereignty is increasingly vital, cutting support for local publishing is a step in the wrong direction. Across Canada, publisher assistance programs strengthen the book publishing sector in order to ensure our stories, histories, and ideas are told by and for people in our communities, rather than being watered-down to suit larger, external markets.

The elimination of the Publishers Assistance program is a shocking about-face from the Government's previously-held position that the province is “renowned for our storytellers,” one they affirmed as recently as last fall with their launch of the Nova Scotia Loyal book industry pilot program. With these announced cuts, those same storytellers are now being left behind.

“Independent publishers are essential cultural infrastructure,” said Alana Wilcox, President of the Association of Canadian Publishers. “When provincial support for publishing is eliminated, the impact is immediate and far-reaching—fewer books by local authors, fewer jobs, and fewer opportunities for Nova Scotian stories to reach readers. This decision weakens not only the province’s publishing sector, but Canada’s cultural landscape writ large.”

As artists, arts organizations, and supporters gather at rallies across Nova Scotia in the coming days, Canada’s book sector stands with them in calling for meaningful investment in arts and culture. The Nova Scotia budget has not yet passed, and there remains an opportunity for the province to reconsider cuts that will have lasting consequences for creators, communities, and cultural life in the province. We urge the Government of Nova Scotia to reverse these cuts and to recognize that sustained investment in local publishing is an investment in economic resilience and cultural vitality.

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The book organizations that have signed on to this release include:

Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP)
Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL)
Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association (APMA)
Canadian Independent Booksellers Association (CIBA)
Literary Press Group of Canada (LPG)
Regroupement des éditeurs franco-canadiens (REFC)
The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC)
Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ)
Association of Manitoba Book Publishers (AMBP)
Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia (Books BC)
Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA)
Ontario Book Publishers Organization (OBPO)
SaskBooks
Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS)

The Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) is the national voice of English-language Canadian-owned book publishers. ACP contributes to the development and maintenance of vibrant, competitive book publishing companies in order to support and strengthen the contribution that Canadian books make to Canada’s cultural, economic, and educational landscape.

For more information, contact:

Jack Illingworth
Executive Director, ACP
jack_illingworth@canbook.org