National Post to cut presence in province
Updated: October 30 at 08:03 AM CDT | Winnipeg Free Press
ONE newspaper resumed home delivery today but another has decided to virtually leave the Winnipeg market altogether.
The ratification of a new contract between the Free Press and its more than 1,000 employees Tuesday night enabled the paper to put out its first edition in two-and-a-half weeks today. The National Post, however, has not only eliminated home delivery in Manitoba and Saskatchewan immediately but its print version won't be available anywhere in the two provinces during the week.
David Asper, chairman of the Toronto-based Post, said it has decided to opt out of its contract with the Free Press to print about 5,000 copies of the paper six days a week.
The Post will be sold at various retailers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan on Saturdays, however. Current home delivery customers will be offered a "very attractive rate" to subscribe to the online edition, he said.
Asper said it was a "difficult" decision to cut back the Post's distribution but its loss will be the Free Press's gain.
Winnipeg's largest daily has agreed to feature more than two pages of branded content from the Post's business section, The Financial Post, every day in the Free Press business section.
Bob Cox, publisher of the Free Press, said the agreement improves the paper's access to National Post stories and columns, only some of which were previously available through the newswire of its parent company, Canwest Global Communications.
"The deal makes National Post columnists like Don Martin and John Ivison available for us to use on the same day they're in the Post," he said.
"I'm happy about the Financial Post and getting more access to National Post material. I think it will strengthen the paper. We'll end up with some really solid content in the Free Press that wasn't there before."
Asper said the Post made similar cutbacks in Atlantic Canada a couple of years ago and wouldn't rule out further moves in the future as the paper retrenches in Canada's biggest markets. It's all part of a continuous review of operations that has the paper on a "path towards profitability," he said.
"It's part of a process of going back and building (the Post) from a profitable base outward, as opposed to doing too much too quickly," he said.
"The Post is an incredibly important voice in the Canadian media landscape. It's often a unique voice. It also has the possibility of being an outstanding business. We're going to go to the wall to try to prove that thesis."
Canwest acquired the Post from Hollinger International in 2003.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca