What is the issue?
Public Lending Right (PLR) provides financial compensation to authors for the use of their work in libraries.
TWUC was instrumental in creating Canada’s Public Lending Right system. Successive TWUC Chairs Matt Cohen and Andreas Schroeder saw the PLR introduced by the federal government in 1986, after many years of dedicated lobbying. Administered by separate staff through the Canada Council for the Arts, governed by the independent Public Lending Right Commission, and distributing payments to thousands of writers and illustrators every February, the PLR is one of the most popular cultural supports for Canadian authors.
As author Roy Macskimming writes in a series of government-funded research papers on the subject, PLR “embodies a bargain struck in good faith between Canadian authors and the Canadian public” and is a form of “natural justice” that is squarely in the public’s interest. Authors happily see their books freely available in public libraries, and the government provides a payment for that use.
Unfortunately, the program budget for PLR has not kept pace with sectoral need.
While Canada’s writing and publishing sector has itself invested for growth and greatly increased the number of Canadian books in Canadian libraries, the government allocation to the PLR budget has not increased at anywhere near a sustainable rate. Authors view PLR payments as an essential, yet shrinking, part of their annual income mix.
What TWUC is doing
TWUC has always had members serving as part of the Public Lending Right Commission, which keeps us informed of the challenges the program faces and the decisions made by the Commission.
In recent years, TWUC struck a Public Lending Right Task Force to analyze the growth and changes to the program over the years, and to bring recommendations from the community. The PLR Task Force delivered a report to the 2019 AGM in Halifax.
In Fall 2019, TWUC participated in the Public Lending Right International Conference at the British Library in London, UK.
In 2019-20, TWUC met with the Prime Minister’s Office, various Senators, policy staff at the Heritage ministry, the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, various Members of Parliament, the Parliamentary Secretary for Heritage, and the Minister of Canadian Heritage. At all these meetings, we advanced to idea of increasing the PLR budget to a sustainable level. In TWUC’s 2020-21 Pre-Budget submission to the federal government, we included this recommendation:
TWUC calls on the government to double the PLR program budget from $15 million to $30 million in order to make up the immediate shortfall between books in the program and available funds. Furthermore, we ask the government to commit to annual increases tied to program growth.
During the 2025 federal election, TWUC advocated for three main goals:
- Increase public investment into the sector through the doubling of the PLR budget.
- Protect creative labour through strengthened copyright law.
- Regulate new technology (artificial intelligence) to protect nascent markets.
We believe a well-funded cultural space and effective market regulation are essential for creating and sharing stories in Canada. Without the stories, information, and ideas generated by authors like you, Canadians will know less about the evolving place of our country in the world.
Canada’s cultural sector contributes more than $60 billion to the national economy each year, and provides employment to over 850,000 Canadians.
What you can do
Please consider writing to your Member of Parliament in support of TWUC’s PLR recommendation to the Finance Committee’s budget deliberations. You might want to add the following to your letter:
- Canadian authors have seen the real dollar value of average PLR payments decrease by almost 50% since the program’s launch. What’s more, title restrictions have been introduced to make the inadequate budget stretch further.
- This government has promised to increase the program budget substantially, but that promise has not been fulfilled in successive Federal Budgets.
- The Writers’ Union of Canada calls on the government to double the PLR program budget from $15 million to $30 million in order to make up the immediate shortfall between books in the program and available funds. Furthermore, we ask the government to commit to annual increases tied to program growth.
Further reading
- Public Lending Right Program – PLR website
- PLR Research Reports – by Roy MacSkimming
- PLR International Conference – notes on the conference from TWUC Executive Director John Degen
- TWUC PLR Task Force 2019 Report
- Gillian O'Reilly, "How Canada’s Public Lending Right Became the Envy of Writers Around the World," Write 51. no.3 (Fall 2023): 7-9.
Increase and Sustain Investment in the Public Lending Right
Canada’s PLR ensures compensation for authors when our work is collected in Canada’s public library systems. It exists as recognition of the great gift of library lending to Canada’s readers, and of the valuable contribution of authors in that lending. Funding for the Public Lending Right Commission is critical to individual writers and to the health of the sector.
Today’s Public Lending Right budget falls far short of compensating at a comparable level to when the program launched in 1986. The number of authors and titles eligible for PLR has quadrupled since that time, and the budget impact has simply not kept pace.
Authors have been forced to concede severe reductions in PLR payments and retirement of culturally significant works from the program.
Considering the volume of content covered by PLR (over 100,000 eligible titles and 20,000 authors), it is a very modest fund. Comparable impact funds for other sectors have long outpaced PLR. The Canada Book Fund is $39.1 million, the Canada Media Fund stands at $353 million, the Periodical Fund is now $95 million, while the journalism fund going primarily to newspaper publishers was launched at $600 million over 5 years. A doubling of the PLR budget to $30 million is reasonable.
While the PLR Program is administered through the Canada Council for the Arts, it was begun with a direct allocation from the Ministry of Canadian Culture and Identity. We recommend the PLR budget be considered discrete from the Canada Council, and raised through direct ministry allocation.
TWUC calls on all parties to support an immediate increase of the annual Public Lending Right Commission budget to a minimum of $30 million, and an ongoing annual increase to the budget in order to keep pace with cultural production and lending practices. These measures will help to ensure ongoing Canadian production for our libraries, and proper compensation for cultural workers. We want to see PLR increases in all parties’ cultural platforms.
Canada’s PLR ensures compensation for authors when our work is collected in Canada’s public library systems. It exists as recognition of the great gift of library lending to Canada’s readers, and of the valuable contribution of authors in that lending. Funding for the Public Lending Right Commission is critical to individual writers and to the health of the sector.
Today’s Public Lending Right budget falls far short of compensating at a comparable level to when the program launched in 1986. The number of authors and titles eligible for PLR has quadrupled since that time, and the budget impact has simply not kept pace.
Authors have been forced to concede severe reductions in PLR payments and retirement of culturally significant works from the program.
Considering the volume of content covered by PLR (over 100,000 eligible titles and 20,000 authors), it is a very modest fund. Comparable impact funds for other sectors have long outpaced PLR. The Canada Book Fund is $39.1 million, the Canada Media Fund stands at $353 million, the Periodical Fund is now $95 million, while the journalism fund going primarily to newspaper publishers was launched at $600 million over 5 years. A doubling of the PLR budget to $30 million is reasonable.
While the PLR Program is administered through the Canada Council for the Arts, it was begun with a direct allocation from the Ministry of Canadian Culture and Identity. We recommend the PLR budget be considered discrete from the Canada Council, and raised through direct ministry allocation.
TWUC calls on all parties to support an immediate increase of the annual Public Lending Right Commission budget to a minimum of $30 million, and an ongoing annual increase to the budget in order to keep pace with cultural production and lending practices. These measures will help to ensure ongoing Canadian production for our libraries, and proper compensation for cultural workers. We want to see PLR increases in all parties’ cultural platforms.
Stronger Together
TWUC’s advocacy is most effective as the collective voice of Canada’s professional authors. We are stronger together. If you are not already a member of TWUC and are working as a writer, consider joining the Union. If you wish to support TWUC’s advocacy outside of membership, consider donating to the Union.
TWUC’s advocacy is most effective as the collective voice of Canada’s professional authors. We are stronger together. If you are not already a member of TWUC and are working as a writer, consider joining the Union. If you wish to support TWUC’s advocacy outside of membership, consider donating to the Union.
