Quebecor Inc. is cutting about 500 jobs at its Sun Media newspaper division in a move that includes closing two production facilities in Ontario as it copes with lower advertising revenue.
The cuts represent 10 per cent of Sun Media's workforce and are part of an effort to reduce annual costs by $45 million.
"Although our circulation revenue has stabilized due to strategic pricing increases, the advertising sector continues to experience declines through the news and media industry," chief executive Pierre Karl Peladeau said Tuesday.
"Newspapers across the world have been impacted in the last 10 years by the introduction of new technologies, changing dramatically the incumbents of printing products," Peladeau noted.
The Journal de Montreal and the Journal de Quebec now have paywalls for online readers, he said, adding the rest of Quebecor's major publications will add paywalls before the end of this year.
During the conference call, Peladeau was not specific about the number of employees who will lose their jobs, saying "several hundred employees" will be leaving Quebecor.
The Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild said about 27 journalists' jobs are slated to be eliminated as the company centralizes copy editing and pagination functions in Toronto. Up to 100 jobs will be lost when the printing plants in Ottawa and Kingston close, the guild added.
A statement from Quebecor put the total number of jobs losses at about 500.
The company's website says it has "ultra modern" printing facilities in Mirabel, Que., and suburban Toronto, which serve local, regional and national markets.
Quebecor will also "dispose or shut down all non-core activities" to reduce costs, Peladeau said.
There also had been earlier reports Quebecor would eliminate the position of publisher at some newspapers. Peladeau did not provide details.
"We eliminated several layers of management to streamline our processes, reduce our costs and bring decision-making closer to the local markets."
Peladeau said Quebecor will use its media platform, including cross promotional activities with Sun News TV and French-language TVA Group, to "bundle our news media products into an integrated multimedia advertising solutions for our clients."
Quebecor said it remains committed to its publications, which include the Toronto Sun and other dailies across Canada under the Sun and other banners.
Quebecor's news media division employed 5,680 people as of Dec. 31, 2011, of which 1,700 were unionized, according to company filings.
Sun Media has 36 paid-circulation daily newspapers and six free daily newspapers. Quebecor also has almost 200 community newspapers, shopping guides and other specialty publications.
