How to Get Press in Canada

Canada is often treated as a footnote to American media. Canadian editors do not see it that way, and pitches that do tend to go nowhere.

Here is how the Canadian press works, and how to approach it properly.

How Canadian media is structured

The titles most businesses pitch fall into three groups.

• National titles. Newspapers written for readers across the country, such as the Financial Post for business and the National Post for news, politics and opinion.
• City papers. Dailies serving a city and its region, such as the Toronto Sun, Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun.
• Licensed and specialist titles. Licensed Canadian editions of international magazines, such as Elle Canada, and sector trade publications.

The newspapers in the first two groups are staff-written. There is no contributor programme to join and no arrangement that converts a payment into a news article. Coverage is earned.

Decide whether your story is national or local

This is the first and most important decision in a Canadian campaign.

National titles want national relevance. The Financial Post looks for financial or economic consequence that matters to readers across Canada. A story that only concerns one city rarely fits, unless it illustrates something happening nationally.

City papers want the opposite: a concrete local connection. Where in the city is this happening, who here is affected, and what changes for them? A founder with a genuine Toronto or Vancouver story competes in a far smaller field than the same founder pitching a national desk.

Many businesses assume national is better. In practice, a strong local story is often more realistic, reaches the customers who actually matter, and builds the record national editors check later.

Some stories have both dimensions. A company expanding across the country may have a national business angle and a separate local angle in each city where it hires. Treat those as different pitches, written for different desks, rather than one release sent everywhere.

Understand the bilingual market

Canada works in English and French, and Quebec is where that matters most. Much of the public conversation in the province happens in French-language media, and English-language coverage sits alongside it rather than replacing it.

If your audience is Montreal's English-speaking community, the Montreal Gazette is a natural fit. If your audience is Quebec as a whole, English coverage alone will reach only part of it. Plan for that honestly from the start rather than discovering it after a campaign.

Outside Quebec, most campaigns run in English, but it is worth checking whether any part of your audience reads mainly in French. Know which conversation you are joining before you pitch.

Shared content across titles

Several major Canadian dailies belong to the same newspaper group and share stories across titles. The Financial Post, National Post, Toronto Sun, Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun operate within a shared network where content can run across titles.

For a pitch, that has two practical effects. A strong story can travel beyond the paper that first ran it. And journalists within the network may see the same material, so sending an identical pitch to every title at once can work against you.

A local angle still matters. Our guide on why Canadian newspapers share content explains how to pitch with that in mind.

The honest routes in

• Earned editorial. A reporter decides your story is worth covering. Free, competitive and never guaranteed.
• Expert commentary. Business and city reporters need informed voices on stories already moving, often within hours. Be reachable and specific.
• Evidence-led pitching. A figure, a filing or a dataset an editor can check. Something checkable beats an adjective every time.
• Advertising and sponsored content. Paid, commercial and labelled. Legitimate, and not the same as being written about.

Be wary of anyone offering guaranteed coverage in a Canadian newspaper. Editorial at a staff-written newsroom cannot be guaranteed from outside it, and a guarantee usually means you are being sold a wire release or an advertisement described as something else.

If you run a smaller business, our guide to PR for Canadian small businesses covers where to start. For a wider view of the market, see PR in Canada.

What we do

Digital Networking Agency helps you decide whether your story is national or local, develops the angle, writes it to editorial standard and pitches the desks where the fit is real. You approve every word before anything is submitted.

We do not sell placements in staff-written Canadian newspapers. We will tell you honestly whether a national title is realistic now, or a goal to build toward from a strong local start. Where a story is not ready for any desk yet, we will say so before you spend anything.

Frequently asked questions

Can a US company get press in Canada?

Yes, with a genuine Canadian angle: customers, staff, an office, investment or data about the Canadian market. A US announcement with no Canadian dimension is unlikely to interest a Canadian desk.

Is it easier to get into a city paper than a national one?

Usually, if the local connection is real. City reporters are looking for stories on their patch, and the field is smaller. It is still earned coverage and never guaranteed.

Is Elle Canada the same as Elle?

No. It is the licensed Canadian edition of the Elle brand, editorially separate from other editions. Describe coverage there as Elle Canada.