Montreal La Presse publishes final print edition as part of shift to digital

CTV News Channel: No longer hot off the press Montreal's biggest newspaper, 'La Presse' has published its final print edition and will go digital only, saying goodbye to nearly 50 staff.

Montreal's La Presse has published its final print edition after more than 133 years.

The French-language newspaper will continue to publish content on its digital platforms.

La Presse had already ceased publishing a daily print product on Jan. 1, 2016, and announced in June that the Dec. 30 Saturday paper would be its last.

The company said at the time that the move to a fully digital platform meant that 49 full- and part-time jobs would be eliminated.

La Presse's president writes in the final edition that the decision was inevitable given the public's adoption of new forms of communication and the shift of advertising dollars to digital platforms.

Pierre-Elliott Levasseur says the end of the print era is part of a gradual shift to digital that began several years ago.

"Today, the information sector is evolving at an accelerated rhythm and the emergence of social media giants brings us face to face with a completely different form of competition," he wrote in Saturday's paper.

"Given this new reality, the transition towards digital had become as necessary as it was inevitable."

Torstar and the parent company of La Presse hold investments in The Canadian Press as part of a joint agreement with a subsidiary of the Globe and Mail.