The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of the 20th century. It is one of the French-speaking province's last two English-language dailies; the other is the '' Sherbrooke Record'', which serves the anglophone community in Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships southeast of Montreal. Founded in 1778 by

Fleury Mesplet Fleury Mesplet (January 10, 1734 – January 24, 1794) was a French-born Canadian printer best known for founding the ''Montreal Gazette'', Quebec's oldest daily newspaper, in 1778.Galarneau, Claude.Mesplet, Fleury, in ''Dictionary of Canadian ...

, ''The Gazette'' is Quebec's oldest daily newspaper and Canada's oldest daily newspaper still in publication. The oldest newspaper overall is the English-language ''

Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English language weekly from its offices in Queb ...

'', which was established in 1764 and is published weekly.

History

founded a French-language weekly newspaper called ''La Gazette du commerce et littéraire, pour la ville et district de Montréal'' on June 3, 1778. It was the first entirely French-language newspaper in Canada. The paper did not accept advertising aside for the various books that Mesplet also published. The articles were meant to promote discussion, and it focused on

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and philosophy, as well as various anecdotal articles, poems and letters. Benjamin Franklin encouraged Mesplet to found the newspaper to persuade Canadians to join the American Revolution; Mesplet, an immigrant from France, had previously lived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and supported the Americans when they occupied Montreal during the war. The newspaper was shut down in 1779 when Mesplet and the editor,

Valentin Jautard Valentin Jautard ( – 8 June 1787) was a French-born Canadian lawyer and journalist. Born in Bordeaux, He is best known for his welcome of invading American troops in 1775 during the American Revolution, saying "our chains are broken, blissf ...

, were arrested for sedition and imprisoned for three years. Mesplet began a second weekly, ''The Montreal Gazette / La Gazette de Montréal'', on August 25, 1785, which had a dual French-English bilingual format similar to that used by the '' Quebec Gazette''. Its offices were located in the house of Joseph Lemoyne de Longueuil on rue de la Capitale. French columns were in the left-hand column and English columns in the right-hand column. The columns were originally written in French and translated to English by Valentin Jautard, who served as editor until his death in 1787. The columns were mostly on education, religion, and literature, and after 1788 on politics. Foreign and local news made up the rest of the paper. The paper took a Voltairian and

anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

stance, wanted Quebec to have its own legislative assembly and sought to import the principles of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

to Quebec. The newspaper also introduced advertising and announcements, taking up half of four pages. It is the direct ancestor of the current newspaper. The newspaper did well, and Mesplet's operation moved to Notre-Dame Street in 1787. Mesplet continued to operate the newspaper until his death in 1794. Following Mesplet's death, his widow published the newspaper for several issues, but the paper ceased publication soon after. Two rivals, Louis Roy and Edward Edwards fought over the right to publish the newspaper over the course of two years. Edwards eventually won the printing press and newspaper and continued operations until his assets were seized in 1808. The newspaper was then the property of James Brown for fourteen years. In 1822, it was sold to businessman Thomas Andrew Turner who converted into an English-only paper in 1822. Under Turner, ''The Gazette'' identified with the interests of anglophone business leaders in their fight with the

Patriote movement The patriotes movement was a political movement that existed in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) from the turn of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840. The partisan embodiment of ...

. On April 25, 1849, ''The Gazette'' published a special edition in which its editor-in-chief,

James Moir Ferres James Moir Ferres (1813 – April 21, 1870) was a journalist and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1813 and studied at Marischal College in Aberdeen. Ferres came to Montreal in 1833 and taught at Edward Bl ...

, called the " Anglo-Saxon" residents to arms after Royal Assent of a compensation law for Lower Canada. This was among the main events leading to the burning of the Parliament Buildings. Ferres was subsequently arrested, though soon released on bail and set free without trial. In 1939, ''The Gazette'' hired its first editorial cartoonist – John Collins, who worked a term of 43 years. In 1968, ''The Gazette'' was acquired by the

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. Southam is situated on the River Stowe (called 'The Brook' by many locals), which flows from Napton-on-the-Hill and joins Warwickshire's ...

newspaper chain, which owned major dailies across Canada. For many years, ''The Gazette'' was caught in a three-way fight for the English newspaper audience in Montreal with the tabloid '' Montreal Herald'' and the broadsheet ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the domi ...

''. ''The Gazette'' was second in circulation to the ''Montreal Star'', which sold more newspapers in the city and had a significant national reputation in the first half of the 20th century. The ''Montreal Herald'' closed in 1957, after publishing for 146 years. The ''Montreal Star'', part of the FP Publications chain (which owned the '' Winnipeg Free Press'' and, at the time, '' The Globe and Mail''), endured a long strike and ceased publication in 1979, less than a year after the strike was settled. Gazette reader

In 1988, a competing English-language daily, the '' Montreal Daily News'', was launched. The ''Montreal Daily News'' adopted a tabloid format and introduced a Sunday edition, forcing ''The Gazette'' to respond. After the ''Montreal Daily News'' closed in 1989, after less than two years in operation, ''The Gazette'' kept its Sunday edition going until August 2010. In 1996, the Southam papers were bought by Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. Then in August 2000, Hollinger sold the Southam newspapers, including ''The Gazette'', to Canwest Global Communications Corp., controlled by the Winnipeg-based Asper family. In 2010, a new media group,

Postmedia Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news ...

, bought the Gazette and other papers from the financially troubled Canwest. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, ''The Gazette'' published a facsimile of one of its earliest issues. Much effort was made to use a type of paper that imitated 18th century paper, with fake chainlines and laidlines to make the paper look old.

Today

Today, ''The Gazette''s audience is primarily Quebec's English-speaking community. ''The Gazette'' is one of the three dailies published in Montreal, the other two being French-language newspapers: '' Le Journal de Montréal'' and ''

Le Devoir ''Le Devoir'' (, "Duty") is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. ''Le Devoir'' is one of few independent large-c ...

''. ('' La Presse'' is only published digitally since 2018.) In recent years, ''The Gazette'' has stepped up efforts to reach bilingual francophone professionals and adjusted its coverage accordingly. The current editor-in-chief is Lucinda Chodan. The deputy editor is Basem Boshra and the associate managing editor is Jeff Blond. Montreal gazette logo

On April 30, 2013, Postmedia Network announced that it would be eliminating the role of publisher at each of its newspapers, including ''The Gazette''. Instead, the company's 10 newspapers were overseen by regional publishers, one each for the Pacific, the Prairies and eastern Canada. Alan Allnutt, who was the publisher of ''The Gazette'' at the time, became the regional publisher of Postmedia's

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and Saskatchewan papers. Gerry Nott, publisher of the '' Ottawa Citizen'', now also oversees ''The Gazette'', the ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'' and Postmedia's flagship title, the '' National Post''. On May 5, 2014, it was announced that printing of ''The Gazette'' would be contracted out to

Transcontinental Media Transcontinental Inc., operating as TC Transcontinental, is a Montreal-based packaging, commercial printing and specialty media company. The company was established in 1976 as a direct marketing company, and later expanded into newspaper printing ...

in August 2014 and that the existing Notre-Dame-de-Grâce facility would be closed, resulting in a loss of 54 full-time and 61 part-time positions at the paper. The August 16, 2014, issue was the final issue printed by the Postmedia-owned facility. On October 21, 2014, ''The Gazette'' was relaunched as part of the Postmedia Reimagined project, adopting a similar look, and a similar suite of digital platforms, to its sister paper, the ''Ottawa Citizen'', which had relaunched earlier in the year. As part of the relaunch, the paper was officially renamed the ''Montreal Gazette'', reflecting its longstanding common name outside its city of publication (as well as its Web domain, ''montrealgazette.com''). The paper had not included Montreal in its masthead in several years.

Sections

Weekdays

*Section A — Local, national and international news, opinion columns, editorials, editorial cartoon, letters to the editor, business news, sports news, arts and entertainment news *Section B — Sports (Mondays and Thursdays), Business (Tuesdays), Food (Wednesdays), Movies (Fridays) *Section C — Driving and classifieds (Mondays)

Saturday

*Section A — Local, national and international news *Section B — Saturday Extra: Feature stories and opinion columns, editorials, editorial cartoon, letters to the editor *Section C — Business news and weather *Section D — Sports *Section E — Culture *Section F — Homefront, classified, working *Section G — Travel *Section H — Weekend Life *Section W — Diversions

Editors-in-chief

* Mark Harrison (1977–1989) * Norman Webster (1989–1993) *

Joan Fraser Joan Fraser (born October 12, 1944) is a Canadian former senator and journalist. Biography Fraser went to Edgehill School and then joined the ''Montreal Gazette'' in 1965 after graduating from McGill University. After two years as a cub repo ...

(1993–1996) * Alan Allnutt (1996–2000) * Peter Stockland (2000–2004) * Andrew Phillips (2004–2009) *

Raymond Brassard Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund (disambiguation), Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic langu ...

(2010–2013) * Lucinda Chodan (2013–present)

Present personalities

* Mike Boone * Bill Brownstein * Josh Freed * Pat Hickey * L. Ian MacDonald * Terry Mosher (Aislin) *

Joseph A. Schwarcz Joseph A. Schwarcz (born 1947) is an author and a sessional instructor at McGill University. He is the director of McGill's Office for Science and Society. Early life Schwarcz is an only child, born in Sopron, Hungary to Jewish parents. Durin ...

* Jack Todd * Herb Zurkowsky

Past personalities

Nick Auf der Maur Nick Erik Auf der Maur (April 10, 1942 – April 7, 1998)Downey, Donn. ''Montreal columnist chronicled cancer fight'', A1. '' The Globe and Mail'', April 9, 1998. was a Canadian journalist, politician and "man about town" boulevardier in Montre ...

* Dave Bist *

Ted Blackman Ted Blackman (February 17, 1942 – October 2, 2002) was a Canadian media personality in the Montreal, Quebec area. Blackman's career started as a disc jockey at high school and teen club dances in the 1950s. After high school, he sold his records ...

* Richard Burnett * Edgar Andrew Collard * John Collins * Peggy Curran * Michael Farber * Red Fisher * John Griffin * William Johnson * Dane Lanken * Ken McKenzie * Myer Newell Negru *

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are '' The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and '' Barney's Version'' (1997). His 1970 novel '' St. Urbain's Horseman'' and 1989 novel ...

* Helen Rochester * Tommy Schnurmacher * Eric Siblin * Paul Wells * Robert Smeaton White

References

External links

*
Official mobile websiteDigital microfilm archive 1878–1986 from Google news archive.Bicentennial issue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montreal Gazette Newspapers published in Montreal Postmedia Network publications English-language newspapers published in Quebec Publications established in 1778 Daily newspapers published in Quebec 1778 establishments in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)