Our readers may have noticed that over the past few months, the number of flyers from major national retailers included in the Thursday Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times has dwindled to next to nothing.
We want you to know that those changes aren’t coming from us and to explain how that happened. This week, we’re publishing an op-ed by Paul Deegan, president of News Media Canada, the national association that represents Canada’s community and daily newspapers, to help shed some light on the situation.
The changes are the result of Raddar, a new flyer and advertising platform launched by Montreal-based TC Transcontinental, one of Canada’s largest printing and packaging companies and the single biggest player in flyer printing and distribution in the country.
With little or no notice, we simply stopped getting shipments of the flyers we used to get paid by TC Transcontinental to distribute. There was no warning, no advisory that our longstanding business stream was about to disappear.
Now, through Raddar, flyers are being distributed through Canada Post as a weekly print package—a bundle of flyers, advertising and some “editorial content” supported by a companion website.
For small town papers like The Fort Frances Times, Raddar’s arrival has real consequences. When national retailers join Raddar, their flyers are printed elsewhere, packaged elsewhere and delivered through Canada Post.
This matters because flyer revenue has long been part of what sustains our operation. It helps fund the newsroom and keeps advertising dollars circulating in the community.
Every flyer that moves into Raddar means fewer resources to cover council meetings, community events, local sports, business developments and the everyday stories that make Fort Frances what it is.
What hasn’t changed is our commitment to local service. We continue to print and deliver flyers for local businesses—the ones who choose to keep their advertising dollars here at home.
Those partnerships, some reaching back decades, matter more than ever.
If you prefer flyers delivered with your local paper, you can help by telling the retailers you shop at that you value local distribution. A simple conversation with a store manager can be passed up the chain, and customer feedback is one of the few things that can influence national advertising decisions.
If you’d rather not get them in your mailbox, you can opt out through Canada Post’s Consumers’ Choice program. This is separate from the Times and applies only to material delivered by the postal service.
Simply place a written notice on your mailbox or mail slot stating that you do not wish to receive unaddressed advertising mail. Canada Post is required to honour that request. It’s important to note that this opt‑out affects only postal flyers such as Raddar; it does not affect delivery of the Times, the Bulletin or the local flyers we deliver with the paper.
Supporting businesses that continue to advertise locally also makes a difference, because those dollars stay in the community and help sustain the journalism you rely on.
