The Canadian Press
Colin Perkel
TORONTO—The Guelph Mercury, one of the country’s oldest dailies, will cease publishing its print editions this week—the latest casualty of the deep malaise in Canada’s newspaper industry, its publisher announced yesterday.
The closure will throw 23 full-time and three part-time employees out of work, including eight in the newsroom.
The southwestern Ontario newspaper, which dates to 1867, will print its last edition Friday.
Publisher Donna Luelo expressed regret at the decision but said shuttering the print edition was the only viable option.
A regional digital team will continue to put out a web version.
“The steep decline in classified and national advertising revenues has made it difficult for the printed copy of the daily newspaper to remain profitable,” Luelo said in a statement.
“There is nothing the talented team at the Guelph Mercury could have done differently to affect the outcome,” she added.
Across Canada and North America, newspapers have struggled to stay—or become—profitable as free websites have eaten into traditional classified and advertising revenues while readers have moved to online news sites.
The Mercury’s circulation in the city of about 115,000 people had fallen to below 9,000 home-delivery subscribers, Luelo noted.
“This is a sad day for Guelph, not just the wonderful people who work here,” Mercury sports reporter Tony Saxon said in a tweet.
In an e-mail, Luelo said the decision would have no impact on the nearby Waterloo Region Record daily, where she’s also publisher.
Ontario’s education minister called the closure of the newspaper a “huge loss” for Guelph.
“The Guelph Mercury has been the paper of record in Guelph and surrounding area for my entire life,” said Liz Sandals, who represents the area in the legislature.
Montreal’s La Presse, also one of the country’s oldest and largest newspapers, announced the end of its weekday print product last fall in favour of a tablet edition launched in 2013 at a cost of $40 million.
La Presse still prints a Saturday paper.
Just last week, money-losing Postmedia announced it was cutting 90 jobs as it merged newsrooms in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa.
Also, the 141-year-old Nanaimo Daily News on Vancouver Island announced it would stop publishing.
Black Press, which had bought the paper from Glacier Media in December, 2014, said it had been unable to develop a sustainable business model for the daily.
