PDS publishes a wide-range of Government of Canada publications, which are distributed to the private sector, and those working in various levels of government as well as the general public. The switch from print to digital will be completed by 2014 said an April 13 announcement. 

There has been a large increase in Canadians using electronic publications, claimed the announcement. For the PDS website recent statistics have shown an increase of close to 2.2 million unique users visiting the site and nearly 10 million downloads annually.

 

As a result, PDS believes printed material is no longer needed, said the announcement. "The resulting demand for paper publications has greatly declined. This decline is expected to continue as the trend towards the use of the Internet to access publications increases."

 

It was stated this decision aligns with The Government of Canada's greening government practices and the cost-cutting measures of the 2012 budget. 

 

"By fully transitioning to free Web-based publications we will eliminate the costs associated with producing, printing, distributing and warehousing hard copies."