William Southam was the main force behind the company that bears his name, to manage his growing newspaper empire. Once a delivery boy for
The London Free Press, he had risen up the ranks to become a part owner of the paper by 1867. He bought the failing
The Hamilton Spectator in 1877 for $5,000 and turned its fortunes around. The new company, with $1 million in capital, was set up to provide centralization for all of William Southam's interests in many Canadian newspapers and printing plants. Beside William Southam on its board, it also included his sons: William J. Southam of Hamilton; Wilson M. Southam and Harry S. Southam, Ottawa; Richard Southam of Toronto, and Fred N. Southam, of Montreal. The consolidation ended when Southam and Thomson traded papers in various locations across Canada in August 1980. The 1980s opened with
Thomson Newspapers Ltd. buying, in January 1980, FB Publications Ltd. This transaction included its chain, Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership, that at the time, owned Toronto's
The Globe and Mail, the
Winnipeg Free Press, two Alberta papers, and a 50 percent share of Pacific Press Ltd which controlled two of Victoria, British Columbia newspapers,
The Daily Colonist and
The Victoria Times. In early April 1980, the FP Publications brand was retired, and merged with Thomson under the Thomson Newspapers brand. In late April 1980, Thomson Newspaper bought the remaining FP Publication shares from Newsco Investments Ltd. – controlled by former
Globe and Mail owner, R. Howard Webster – giving them 100 percent control of the company and its properties. By June 1980, the ramifications of the
Montreal Star closing and Thomson's acquisition of the Star's parent company, FP Publications began to emerge. Southam Inc. had to sell Thomson Newspapers one-third of Montreal's
The Gazette to acquire the assets of the now closed
Star paper. Southam Inc. acted on the option to purchase from FP the ''Star's
assets, including its printing plant, for $16 million. Thomson, the successor company to FP, exercised its option to purchase a one-third ownership stake in The Gazette
on June 12, 1980, as part of the agreement between Southam and FP. Thomson also closed The Ottawa Journal around the same time as the Winnipeg Tribune'', leaving Southam's
The Citizen as the only English-language newspaper in that market. The August 27, 1980 deals gave Southam monopolies in English-language newspaper markets such as Montreal (
The Gazette), Ottawa (
The Citizen), and in the Vancouver market (
The Province &
The Vancouver Sun) when they bought both Thomson's minority shares in
The Gazette and their 50 percent share in Pacific Press Ltd for $57,250,000. Critics of the largest consolidation in Canadian newspaper history, up to that time, called it a failure in the Canadian government's anti-combines legislation. Federal Opposition Leader,
Joe Clark, called for a federal inquiry into Southam and Thomson's dealings. But the publishers of the independent
The Leader-Post and
The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix thought the closures of
The Journal and
The Tribune might actually serve the
public good better with one strong, and financially secure paper in each major urban centre, rather than two struggling ones. In 1981, Southam purchased, the three-day-a-week newspaper, the
Kamloops News. This gave Thompson a competitor to its
Kamloops Sentinel.
1996–2000: Sale to Hollinger Southam Newspapers was taken over by
Hollinger Inc. in 1996, after Conrad Black gained a controlling stake in the company. Under Hollinger control, Southam made further acquisitions, including most of the
British Columbia print media holdings of Thomson Newspapers. The purchase meant that Southam had a virtual monopoly on Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia's newspaper market. Canwest examined ways to integrate many of its smaller market papers into its Global television news division; however, it wasn't to be. On August 10, 2002, Canwest sold eight
Atlantic Canada and two
Saskatchewan daily newspapers, 34 community papers, and two printing plants to
Transcontinental Media including the
Cape Breton Post, and
St. John's The Telegram. The deal allowed Transcontinental to use its newly acquired
Summerside, Prince Edward Island plant to print the Atlantic Canada version of the
National Post. More Canwest papers were spun off to
Osprey Media on January 28, 2003, when four Ontario daily newspapers joined that company:
St. Catharines Standard,
Brantford Expositor,
Niagara Falls Review, and
The Welland Tribune. 21 community weekly papers were also sold off to Osprey as well. The Southam family were happy with the name change, as they felt the Aspers were not running the chain within the traditions of that brand. Canwest News Service (CNS) began operating in Winnipeg in the second week of February 2003, replacing Southam Newspapers from bylines and mastheads. CNS moved its expanded operations to Ottawa in April 2007.
2010: Postmedia buys Canwest Although defunct for seven years, Southam's remnants were sold by Canwest on July 13, 2010, when its newspaper publishing division was spun off into a new company,
Postmedia Network Ltd., led by
National Post CEO,
Paul Godfrey. Canwest's broadcasting division, Canwest Global Media, was sold to
Shaw Media earlier in the year, after an attempt by the
Asper family to regain the company in court failed on February 19, 2010. Shaw closed out the deal when they came to an agreement with
Goldman-Sachs regarding Canwest's speciality TV channels on May 3, 2010. The
Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) approved the deal on October 22, 2010, and the deal was finalized on October 27, 2010, meaning Canwest Global Communications Inc. was no more. ==Criticism==