The sale, announced yesterday in a deal worth $517 million, leaves Canada with just two major newspaper chains: Quebecor and CanWest.
 
Quebecor, which owns papers across Canada including the Sun tabloid and 24 Hours chains, will be adding 54 Ontario publications, giving it control over a large number of the country's newspapers, notes Arnold Amber, director of CWA Canada. The union represents workers at 10 of Osprey's 21 daily newspapers and at CanWest dailies in Victoria, Regina, Ottawa and Montreal.

Amber says Quebecor could help ease concerns by promising to maintain high editorial standards.

"We call on Quebecor to continue to invest in the communities where it has bought papers,” says Amber. “Local news is in jeopardy across Canada and the strength of these newspapers has been delivering local information to small and mid-size communities in Ontario. We will be watching to ensure Quebecor doesn’t pay for this deal by laying off the very people who do that important work.”

The Kingston Whig-Standard, St. Catharines Standard, Sudbury Star, North Bay Nugget, Sault Star, Cobourg Star and Peterborough Examiner are among the Osprey titles snapped up by Quebecor.
 
Amber notes that workers at the Quebecor-owned Journal de Quebec are currently locked out in a dispute partly about editorial quality and the amount of resources the paper dedicates to local news.

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