Guest Comments by Susan Dayus

Editor’s Note: The writer is executive director of the Canadian Booksellers Association.

TORONTO, Canada -- Recently, the Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) notified its members about Amazon.com’s proposed entry into Canada. Probably you’ve followed media reports about the issue.

Our president Stephen Cribar and vice-president Mark Lefebvre have given media interviews to explain our position. If Amazon.com is allowed to open a fulfillment centre in Canada, the door will open to other foreign-owned cultural businesses operating in Canada. The CBA considers this detrimental to Canada and its independent booksellers.

We believe that allowing Amazon to operate a business within Canada would contravene the Investment Canada Act. This legislation requires foreign investments in the book-publishing-and-distribution sector to be compatible with national cultural policies and of net benefit to Canada and the Canadian-controlled sector.

“Individual Canadian booksellers traditionally play a key role in ensuring the promotion of Canadian authors and culture,” said Cribar. “These are values no American dot.com retailer could purport to understand or promote.”

The CBA urges Canada’s government to continue supporting our unique cultural perspective by placing reasonable limits on American domination of our book market and rejecting Amazon.com’s application. We’ve written to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, heritage minister James Moore and industry minister Tony Clement to express our concerns.

It’s not too late to express your opinions about the devastating impact the American retail giant’s entry into our cultural sphere could have. Please don’t stay silent with Canada’s independent bookstores and cultural identity at stake. If you agree with our position, please make your voice heard.

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