The paper was originally launched in the 1870s as
The Presbyterian and Evangelical Protestant Union, owned by
Presbyterian minister Stephen G. Lawson. It adopted its current name in 1887. After a succession of local owners, the newspaper was bought by
Thomson Corporation in the 1950s.
Southam Newspapers acquired the paper from Thomson in 1996, before itself being acquired by
Canwest Global Communications in 2000. Canwest sold the paper to
Transcontinental in 2002, before being sold to
SaltWire Network, a newly formed parent company of
The Chronicle Herald, in April 2017.
The Guardian had a sister publication,
The Evening Patriot, which was discontinued in 1995 amid efficiency changes by the publishers. While the slogan of
The Guardian for many years has been "Covers the Island like the dew", it remains principally a Charlottetown publication, with the
Journal Pioneer in
Summerside to the west and
The Eastern Graphic in Montague to the east. In 2010, the daily weekday circulation was approximately 18,000.
The Guardian is currently printed in
Halifax. The Guardian is a Tuesday to Saturday paper only. On July 26, 2024,
Postmedia entered an agreement to purchase SaltWire. ==See also==