Torstar
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Torstar Corporation is an independently owned Canadian publishing company. Named after its principal holding, the Toronto Star daily newspaper, Torstar was founded after the Ontario government passed a law barring the provisions of late-Toronto Star owner Joseph Atkinson's will from being enacted. Atkinson had bequeathed the newspaper to a charitable organization he had founded. The Progressive Conservative provincial government of George Drew (a long time enemy of the Liberal oriented Star) passed a law banning charitable organizations from operating profitable entities such as newspapers. Rather than sell the newpspaper, the trustees of the Atkinson Foundation bought out the Star privately and founded Torstar as a private corporation.
Along with the Toronto Star, Torstar owns and operates three other daily newspapers in southern Ontario: The Hamilton Spectator, The Guelph Mercury and the Kitchener-Waterloo Record as well as eleven weekly or monthly newspapers outside of Toronto, and eye Weekly, an alternative weekly newspaper. Metroland Publishing is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation which publishes 60 neighbourhood papers three times a week. These newspapers cover neighbourhood issues not otherwise covered by the large dailies. They are distributed free of charge and have captured a large portion of the neighbourhood flyer market. These newspapers include:
- Annex Guardian
- Beach/Riverdale Mirror
- Bloor West Villager
- East York Mirror
- Etobicoke Guardian
- North York Mirror
- Scarborough Mirror
- York Guardian
Torstar is also a partner in Sing Tao, a daily Chinese language newspaper in Toronto, and in the Toronto edition of Metro, a free commuter newspaper aimed at riders of public transit.
Torstar also operates a book publishing division which owns Harlequin Enterprises Limited, a major publisher of romance novels.
External links
- Torstar corporate webpage (http://www.torstar.com)
