''24 Hours'' (), is a group of English-language and French-language

free daily newspaper Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at ...

s published in Canada. It was published in French in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

, and in English in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. The Gatineau edition was discontinued in 2008 and the Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa editions ceased publication in 2013. The Toronto and Vancouver editions were sold to

Postmedia Network Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...

as part of Quebecor's divestment of English-language news, and they were later acquired by Torstar in an asset swap on November 27, 2017 and immediately shut down in favour of the Torstar-owned '' Metro'' papers in those cities (rebranded ''StarMetro'' the following year). The French-language Montreal edition, originally called ''Metropolitain'', became ''24 heures'' in 2005. It is published weekly by Quebecor Media and is the only survivor under the name after folding of all the other Canadian editions. In 2021, it re-launched as a print weekly. The newspaper also underwent a major redesign with the title change to ''24'', and in early February 2021, its website and logo were redesigned.

History

In 2000,

Metro International Metro International is a Swedish media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the freesheet newspaper ''Metro''. The company was founded by Per Andersson, and started as a subsidiary of the Modern Times Group along with Viasat Broadcast ...

launched its free daily ''Metro'' newspaper in Toronto, eventually expanding with local editions across Canada. In Toronto, the ''Toronto Sun'' and ''Toronto Star'' scrambled to launch their own free dailies, Sun Media's ''FYI Toronto'' and Torstar's ''GTA Today''. In mid-2001, ''GTA Today'' had merged with ''Metro'' and in October of the same year Sun Media ceased publication of ''FYI Toronto''. However, as the ''Toronto Sun'' itself had been largely dependent on sales to commuters the success of ''Metro'' ate into its market share and in 2003, Sun Media re-entered the giveaway market with the launch of ''24 Hours'' in Toronto. The Montreal French-language paper was originally called "Metropolitain" (English: "Metropolitan") and had a large lowercase "m" as its logo, before becoming in 2005. On November 14, 2006, ''24 Hours'' launched two new editions in the Ottawa–Gatineau area—an English edition published in

, and a French edition published in

. The Gatineau version stopped publishing on May 9, 2008. The Vancouver edition of ''24 Hours'' was a joint venture of Sun Media and the

Jim Pattison Group The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole owner of the company. The Jim Pattison Group, Canada's second largest privately held company, h ...

; Pattison sold his share of the Vancouver edition in 2007. In fall 2009, ''24 Hours'' and were given an extensive makeover. The paper was given the alternative name ''24H''; while ''24H'' is short-form for "24 Hours" in French, the name was applied to all editions. The paper's colour scheme changed for the Montreal edition, from black and yellow to blue and orange, to match the other editions' colours. As of January 3, 2011, the Montreal edition of ''24 H'' had reached an agreement with the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) for exclusive distribution in the underground Montreal métro network, replacing the ''Metro'' newspaper. On November 27, 2017, the Toronto and Vancouver editions were acquired by Torstar during Torstar-Postmedia swap deal and were immediately shut down and merged into the Torstar owned Metro. The sale was part of a trade between Torstar and Postmedia, in which more than forty local newspapers changed ownership, with several closing. As a result of the trade and closures, the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau () is the independent law enforcement agency in charge of regulating competition in Canada, responsible for ensuring that markets operate in a competitive manner. Headed by the Commissioner of Competition, the agency is ...

began an investigation into violations of the

Competition Act The ''Competition Act'' () is a Canadian federal law governing competition in Canada. The Act contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the marketplace. Along with the ''Competition Tribunal ...

and raided the offices of Postmedia and Torstar to search for evidence.

References

External links

History

See also

References

External links