Montreal Star

The Montreal Star was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec. It folded in 1979 as part of an agreement between Thomson Newspapers and Southam Newspapers to establish monopolies in Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal. The paper had recently settled an eight-month pressmen's strike.

It was Canada's Largest Newspaper until the 1950's and remained the dominant English newspaper in Montreal until its closure.

The paper was founded on January 16, 1869 by Hugh Graham and George T. Lanigan as the Montreal Evening Star.

In 1925, Graham sold the Montreal Star to John Wilson McConnell. Two other newspapers, the Montreal Standard and Family Herald, were under the same ownership.

In 1951, the Montreal Star launched its Weekend Magazine supplement, with an initial circulation of 900,000.[1]

After McConnell's death, the Montreal Star was acquired by the FP newspaper group, which also owned The Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1980, the FP chain, including the Star, was acquired by Thomson Newspapers.

After the Montreal Star folded, Gazette became the sole English daily in Montreal. The Star had consistently out-sold The Gazette until the strike but did not regain its dominance when it resumed publishing. The Gazette acquired the Star's building and presses.

Notable contributors

It was the first newspaper in Canada to employ a staff editorial cartoonist, when it hired Henri Julien in 1888. [2]

Other contributors of note included Red Fisher, Doris Giller, Nick Auf der Maur, Terry Mosher and Dennis Trudeau, many of whom moved over to the The Gazette when the Star folded.

The closing of the Star, Calgary Albertan, Winnipeg Tribune, and Ottawa Journal caused the Trudeau government to establish the Kent Commission to examine newspaper monopolies in Canada. Most of Kent's findings and recommendations were ignored.

References

• "A Star Is Shorn". TIME Magazine. 1979. Retrieved March 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)