It’s a irony that did not go unnoticed by Eganville Leader Publisher Gerald Tracey.
He received the news Monday morning, on the eve of World Press Freedom Day: McLaren Press Graphics, of Bracebridge, announced its closure for May 31.
The pandemic had crippled a number of McLaren’s other clients and sliced its revenue stream, forcing it to wind down operations.
That leaves the venerable- and still very viable 120-year-old Eganville Leader without a printing press.
Finding a replacement printer will not be all that easy- there are only two printing firms in Eastern Ontario equipped to handle the job, and shipping the paper off to Toronto would be fraught with potential problems in turn-around time.
Where other weekly papers may receive a federal subsidy, the Eganville Leader has a vibrant subscription base of over 6,000 and has grown during the pandemic while other local newspapers have either shrunken or ceased.
Further, a newsprint shortage due to the conversion of many paper mills to corrugated box production geared to Amazon deliveries restricts the supply available to publishers, and the Leader’s 24-page full-colour format may have to be altered to fit available supply.
The 69 year-old Tracey worries he may have to curtail retirement plans due to the unwillingness of potential purchasers to invest in the challenge.
Rick Stow