MONTREAL — A prominent businessman and lawyer who believes the Montreal Gazette needs local ownership has offered to take a stake in the newspaper, but he said Thursday he hasn't heard back from its owner.
Mitch Garber said he informed management at Postmedia in late January that he would be interested in assembling a group of Montrealers to buy a share of the publication.
"I think that with a local group of owners, whether minority or majority, we would be able to get community support in terms of advertising and subscribers and keep the paper alive, maybe change some of the ways the paper is run, and make sure that the contents continue to be compelling," he said in an interview.
Garber, who was CEO of PartyGaming Plc, non-executive chairman of Cirque du Soleil, and is a minority owner of the NHL's Seattle Kraken, said the paper's staff reached out to him as an influential Montrealer after Postmedia announced layoffs last month. He said staff fear the cuts will lead to the end of the publication.
Postmedia, whose publications also include the National Post, Vancouver Sun and Calgary Herald, announced on Jan. 24 it would be cutting 11 per cent of its workforce of 650 employees. Sources at the Montreal Gazette have said it will be hit particularly hard, with reports that 25 per cent of its employees could lose their jobs.
"It's mostly about the paper not being run locally and now it's being cut really below the bone and the combination of having foreign owners and less than a skeleton budget and less than a skeleton staff, I think that I share the concern with many — including almost everyone who works at the Gazette — that this is the beginning of the end of the Gazette," Garber said.
Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund, holds a majority stake in Postmedia.
Garber said he informed senior management at Postmedia — in writing and by phone — of his interest and decided to go public on Twitter this week when he didn't hear back.
"If the patient's going into intensive care, I want to at least have screamed loudly enough for someone to hear," he said.
Since the tweets, he said, his inbox has filled with messages from Quebec-based executives and investors who want to help the paper.
At the Quebec legislature on Thursday, Liberal member Greg Kelley made an impassioned plea for Ottawa to intervene.
"The cuts to the Montreal Gazette are more severe than elsewhere in this newspaper chain," Kelley said.
"Under such dire circumstances, the federal government must step forward to support the Gazette as a minority language newspaper in Quebec and help reverse this decision by Postmedia."
Andrew MacLeod, president and CEO of Postmedia, said in an interview Thursday that he received an email from Garber but that a scheduled call did not go ahead, so he couldn't comment on his statements.
MacLeod stressed that none of Postmedia's properties are for sale, but in theory, the company would look at anything that made sense for the business. He added that it would be complicated to divest a publication from the network because there are shared services between each paper.
"So to extricate one element of that you have to recreate all those services in the entity," MacLeod said. "It's not an easy process ... It would have to be a very serious credible offer and then we would have to consider it."
Postmedia announced Thursday a community advisory council would be established to "help strengthen the sustainability of the 245-year-old newspaper."
Community, political and business leaders will make up the council, which will help identify new revenue streams and support growth. MacLeod said the council will include Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who represents the Montreal riding of Mount Royal.
MacLeod said he'll discuss staffing cuts with the council but was categorical that there is no attempt to target the Gazette, which "remains one of our most powerful newsrooms and it remains one of our most prized possessions."
"We want to be providing more local journalism, we want to be growing these institutions," MacLeod said, adding the council could be emulated in other markets.
"When we announce cuts, it's because the revenue for these institutions has declined," he said.
Garber said he was offered a spot on the advisory council but didn't feel he could call on corporate friends to advertise in a product that has plans to cut 25 per cent of its staff and is owned by a New Jersey hedge fund.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2023.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
