Martin Cauchon moves from politics to headlines.
Declining readership, changing technology and uncertain revenue sources are convincing reasons for many companies to get out of the newspaper business.
Not lawyer and former Liberal cabinet minister Martin Cauchon — today, he’s diving headfirst into the industry as the new owner of six regional dailies across Quebec.
“We want to keep providing people with good quality information, close to the community,” said Cauchon. “The newspapers I bought are part of Quebec history. They are deeply rooted.”
In March, the newly formed Groupe Capitales Médias bought the bundle from Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corp. of Canada.
It’s made up of Le Soleil in Quebec City, Le Nouvelliste in Trois-Rivières, Le Droit in Ottawa-Gatineau, La Tribune in Sherbrooke, Le Quotidien in Saguenay and La Voix de l’Est in Granby.
Each paper has a long and colourful history, with many having changed hands a dozen times in just over a century.
Aside from Le Soleil in Quebec City and Le Droit in Ottawa-Gatineau, none of the papers has major competition providing local, daily news.
“Even though we are the strongest brand, we won’t take anything for granted,” Cauchon said.
Readers across the world are shifting from newspapers to mobile platforms, and Cauchon feels the urgency to do the same, noting print readership in Quebec is sinking by about six per cent every year.
“We really have to shake the existing business model and move into something different,” he said. “Time is of the essence.”
The newspapers I bought are part of Quebec history. They are deeply rooted — Martin Cauchon
Cauchon cites the free, tablet-centred La Presse+ (still owned by Gesca) as being a possible model, though he doesn’t yet have a concrete plan.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet about the sort of technology we’re going to come out with, but as we speak, I’m working with my team and we’re looking at different solutions,” he said.
Cauchon is used to taking professional risks, and it hasn’t always gone his way on first attempt.
In the 1988 federal election, he ran and lost in his Quebec home riding of Charlevoix against Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Five years later, however, he was elected in Montreal’s Outremont riding, and in 1999 was brought into Jean Chrétien’s cabinet where as justice minister, he was an advocate of same-sex marriage years before it was legalized in Canada.
“When you look at the mandate of all those daily newspapers, it’s part of the public debate. So it’s not that far from what I was doing when I was a politician,” he said.
Cauchon grew up near La Malbaie on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in a village of about 5,000 people. He says this is where he first learned the importance of giving representation to people outside major urban centres. “One of the missions I had when I was in politics was the development of all the regions in Quebec. It’s a passion for me,” said Cauchon.
For him, this makes the transition from politician to media owner a natural one.
“To get involved in a campaign as a politician, somehow you have to be an entrepreneur,” he said.
There is information Cauchon does not want to share — how much he paid in the private transaction, and where the money came from. A source says it’s unlikely the 52-year-old had the personal wealth to purchase the papers without backing from elsewhere.
Cauchon denies the most popular rumour: that he’s acting as a frontman for the Desmarais family, who head Power Corp.
“There’s no reason I would do that,” said Cauchon, insisting he would have nothing to gain by representing someone else’s interests. “I was practising as an international lawyer, doing very well and happy in my life.”
Some say Cauchon doesn’t want to publicize the size of the pension fund deficit he picked up along with the assets.
Only Le Quotidien in Saguenay has its own printing press, while the other five outsource to Transcontinental and some of the newspapers don’t even own their offices.
“It makes the transaction smaller than some people might think,” said MarcNoël Ouellette, president of Newspaper Toolbox and former Transcontinental vicepresident.
Cauchon is also not ruling out the possibility of future layoffs. “It means tough deci- sions will have to be taken, but it’s my role,” he said.
Le Soleil publisher Claude Gagnon has been appointed CEO of Groupe Capitales Médias. He says there have been jobs cut every year since he took the helm of the Quebec City newspaper in 2007. “It’s not new for us,” he said. “The revenues have been going down so we have to look for new methods of making money.”
At the moment, unions are in talks with Cauchon’s media group and won’t discuss the negotiations.
“Generally, what people want with new employers is a guarantee they will keep their jobs for a certain period of time,” said Pierre Roger, president of the Fédération nationale des communications union, which represents 1,500 members across Quebec including journalists at five of the six Groupe Capitales Medias papers.
Some media experts say purchasing the newspapers is a bold move, but one that could pay off in the long run.
“The place of daily newspapers is going to change rapidly in the coming years. It’s a risky activity right now and that’s the negative part,” said Daniel Giroux, head of media studies at Université Laval in Quebec City. “In my opinion, they will find a way to be profitable after a difficult period.”
The place of daily newspapers is going to change rapidly in the coming years. It’s a risky activity right now, and that’s the negative part. In my opinion, they will find a way to be profitable after a difficult period.
— Daniel Giroux, head of media studies at Université Laval