When Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced details on the new Canada Periodical Fund two weeks ago in Montreal, he said magazines with annual circulations under 5,000 may not qualify for part of the $72 million in annual funding that will be allocated to periodicals beginning April 2010. The people who run the potentially affected magazines have since taken notice and are mobilizing to ensure they continue to receive monetary support from the federal government.

John Barton, editor of The Malahat Review, Jon Fiorentino, editor of Matrix, Anita Lahey, editor of ARC Poetry magazine and Andris Taskans, editor of Prairie Fire have created a Facebook group to rally their constituency. They are encouraging supporters of small magazines to phone and write letters and e-mails to members of parliament and make their voices heard.

The Coalition to Keep Canadian Heritage Support for Literary and Arts Magazine feels strongly that to render these magazines ineligible for this support would be unjust. To quote Andris Taskans, editor of Prairie Fire, to do so would be "a slap in the face"---not only to the magazines themselves but to the many writers that they publish, many of whom began illustrious, international careers in these seminal if modest publcations. To do so would also be a "slap in the face" to the ordinary (and extraordinary) Canadians who read them.

By joining the Coalition, readers and writers everywhere send a strong message to the Honorable James Moore, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Canada Periodical Fund that we believe in our literary and arts magazines and feel that they should continue to do so by supporting them through well-deserved and sustained financial support.

Masthead has requested official comment from the Department of Canadian Heritage as to why these magazines might be left out of the CPF funding.