Canadian publishers in crisis, want no foreign entry
March 18, 2026 7:38 PM
Rant of the week
Looking back on my distant pre-university days of leisure reading, a few authors come to mind particularly fondly.
Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, L.M. Montgomery, Yann Martel, and I must say I was quite fond of my Raincoast Books editions of the Harry Potter series too.
So what do all of these household names have in common?
Aside from general fabulousness, it’s either Canadian authorship or Canadian printing.
As it turns out, the Canadian publishing industry may be facing some large changes in the imminent future.
Heritage Minister James Moore has been set with the task of reviewing our nation’s current ban on foreign investment for the book business.
If he puts an end to the ban, foreign companies will likely flock to Canada to sell us more New York Times bestsellers, the exact outcome that many independent domestic publishers are trying to avoid.
The problem is that the independents just can’t pack the punch that a multinational company could.
They find and publish new Canadian authors, but often lose them to multinationals that entered Canada before the ban (like Random House Canada) that can offer powerful marketing and distribution.
And the smaller houses pay the price, going bankrupt at an alarming pace of late.
Some would argue that we should just open up the market and hope that new entrants would still publish Canadian content.
To me, this sounds like asking Fox News to replace the CBC. There’s something about it that just makes me sick at heart.
Foreign publishers have no incentive to support Canadian content when they can just sell us the latest Dan Brown cash cow book of the week.
It needs to be the law, or else we can bid a fond farewell to the immense potential exhibited by emerging Canadian writers.
So why should we support Canadian publishing firms, even if it means heavy subsidization?
Well for one thing, when I read ‘Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures’ I was thrown into raptures by the fact that I could actually read a novel where the protagonist shuffles between Ottawa and Toronto.
Our popular novels are so U.S.-normative that it’s a rare thrill to read something set in your own country. Isn’t that sad?
Canadian authors do an excellent job of rendering experiences and voices that could be written by no one else.
Canadian people benefit from this content. And Canadian companies deserve to reap the rewards of local literary mastery.
On the side of the author, it stands to reason that a system that promotes development of a body of literature uniquely Canadian is nothing but beneficial.
If Moore decides that the independent presses are not sustainable, even with subsidies, then so be it.
But it seems ridiculous to me that we would only advocate for the two most extreme stances: protecting this business, or completely abandoning it to sink or swim.
If it be the case that foreign capital would be exactly the adrenaline injection that the local presses need, then please Mr. Moore at least recommend some substantial regulations.
For instance, what if foreign firms were not allowed to enter the market independently, but only to collaborate with an existing publishing house at minority ownership?
They could realize profits by importing books to Canadians and in turn introducing our content internationally.
Maybe there is a way to allow some foreign entry without completely steamrollering the independent publishers that do the great work of finding the next Yann Martel.
Partnerships, or at the very least a forced quota of national content production could be the answer.
That is if we were to resign ourselves to the big bad beast of international publishing.
I for one would like to see at least some Canadian publishers supported with the same fervour of support that meets the CBC or the National Film Board. But unfortunately, I may just be a little too optimistic.
With files from the Globe&Mail
