The Petrolia Topic will soon be no more.
Publisher Postmedia, which also owns the Observer and Sarnia this Week, made the announcement yesterday in an internal memo that was quoted in Wednesday’s edition of the local paper.
Declining advertising budgets were cited as the reasons for the closing of the papers, which also include the Camrose Canadian and Strathmore Standard in Alberta and the Kapuskasing Northern Times, Ingersoll Times, and Norwich Gazette in Ontario.
Postmedia says 16 job losses will occur in sales, distribution and editorial.
It is the second time in two years Postmedia offered a major round of buyouts. In October 2016, it announced plans to reduce its salary expenses by 20% per cent.
It is also the second time in a year that the publisher has announced closures. It did so after Torstar, its largest competitor, swapped 41 titles and then closed 36 of them, a move the Competition Bureau is investigating.