Michael Goldbloom, the publisher of Montreal's English-language daily newspaper The Gazette, told staff yesterday he is quitting, citing differences with the paper's new owners, CanWest Global Communications Corp.
"When a company changes hands, there is inevitably a period during which the new owners and the existing executives have to determine whether they see eye to eye and if they are a good fit," Mr. Goldbloom said in a memo sent to staff yesterday.
"CanWest has a more centralized approach to its management, and there are some aspects of the operations where we have had different perspectives," he added.
CanWest acquired The Gazette and several other dailies last year when it bought most of the properties in the Southam Inc. newspaper chain, as well as a 50-per-cent interest in the chain's flagship newspaper the National Post, from Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc.
Last week, Mr. Black sold his 50-per-cent stake in the Post to CanWest, which also operates the Global national-television network.
Officials at Winnipeg-based CanWest referred calls to Southam executives in Toronto, who were not available yesterday. Mr. Goldbloom did not return calls.
Gazette staffers said his departure after seven years as publisher might be related to delays of more than one year in launching new printing presses at The Gazette.
The delays, due to technical and other glitches, have been costly, said one staffer.
CanWest is known as a financially conservative company and is under pressure to cut costs in order to reduce its debt and to deal with the economic slump.
Besides slashing costs, CanWest's strategy is to boost revenue by creating more advertising opportunities across its diverse media holdings.
Gazette newsroom staffers also expressed concern yesterday that Mr. Goldbloom's departure might be a sign that CanWest is increasingly intervening in the editorial operations of Southam papers.
Sources at The Gazette confirmed yesterday that senior editors at the paper were told in August to run a strongly worded, pro-Israel editorial on a Saturday op-ed page.
Winnipeg's Asper family, CanWest's controlling shareholder, is known for its hawkish views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Staffers were also concerned by the recent firing of Southam Ottawa-based columnist Lawrence Martin, who had been critical of Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.
David Asper, the son of CanWest Global patriarch Israel (Izzy) Asper, recently wrote a column for the National Post defending Mr. Chrétien and lashing out at the media's coverage of the controversy over federal loans to a hotel in Mr. Chrétien's St-Maurice constituency.
Izzy Asper is a long-time Liberal and the former leader of the Manitoba Liberal party.
Mr. Goldbloom -- whose father, Victor, was a provincial Liberal cabinet minister in the 1970s -- was known as a conciliatory force in Quebec's often stormy French-English relations, boosting efforts at The Gazette to reach out to the francophone community.
His resignation is effective Oct. 1.
Bertrand Marotte