2016.01.26 | CWA Canada Local 30391 | Guelph Typographical Union

 

149-year-old Guelph Mercury to stop print edition

The print edition of the Guelph Mercury, one of Canada’s oldest broadsheet newspapers, will cease to exist after this Friday.

Along with it will go the Guelph Typographical Union — a Local of CWA Canada, the country’s oldest media union — which was founded in 1893.

Metroland Media Group (a Torstar subsidiary), the latest owner of the 149-year-old daily, said 26 employees, including eight in the newsroom, will lose their jobs.

A regional digital team will continue to put out an online version of the paper.

“This is really sad,” said Lois Kirkup, vice-president of CWA Canada. “The Mercury has been the paper of record for Guelph since Confederation in 1867. We lament the loss of yet another newspaper and the jobs along with it.”

Publisher Donna Luelo said in a statement that financial pressures led to the decision to shut down the print edition, subscriptions to which had fallen to about 9,000 in a city with a population of 115,000.

“The steep decline in classified and national advertising revenues has made it difficult for the printed copy of the daily newspaper to remain profitable,” said Luelo.

The company will, however, continue to publish its twice-weekly Guelph Tribune, lifestyle magazine Guelph Life and a real estate paper called Guelph and District Homes.