The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is applauding Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston for cutting wasteful handouts to publishing houses and is calling on Ottawa and Manitoba to follow suit.

“Houston made the right call,” said Devin Drover, CTF Atlantic Director and General Counsel. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for publishing houses pushing fringe political propaganda.”

The CTF previously called for an end to Nova Scotia’s Publishers Assistance Fund after the program handed $135,000 in taxpayer money to Fernwood Publishing in 2024.

Between 2020 and 2024, the company also received $306,900 from the federal government and $86,250 from the Manitoba government through the Publisher Marketing Assistance Program.

Fernwood Publishing is a Halifax- and Winnipeg-based company that describes itself as “politically driven, not profit driven.” The publisher says this approach allows it to “take risks in publishing radical analysis” in order to “engage with radical ideas and contribute to structural change.”

Recent titles include Red Flags: A Reckoning with Communism for the Future of the Left, which describes itself as exploring the “alternative to capitalism.”

Despite the handouts, the book currently ranks #396 in “Communist & Socialist Ideologies” and has just one review on Amazon.ca.

Other titles published by Fernwood include I’ll Get Right On it, which is a collection of poems about “working life in the climate crisis;” and Openings and Closures: Socialist Strategy at a Crossroads, focusing on what actions socialists should presently take.

Cutting the Publishers Assistance Fund will save Nova Scotian taxpayers $700,000 this year.

Manitoba spends about $114,000 a year on hand outs to book publishers for marketing.

“Houston is respecting Nova Scotia taxpayers by axing these wasteful handouts and Premier Wab Kinew needs to do the same,” said Gage Haubrich, CTF Prairie Director. “Manitoba is deep in debt and needs to cut wasteful spending and this program is the perfect place to start.”