The Montreal Gazette
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The March 7, 2011 front page of The Gazette
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
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| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Postmedia Network |
| Founder(s) | Fleury Mesplet |
| Editor-in-chief | Lucinda Chodan |
| Managing editors | Michelle Richardson |
| Sports editor | Stu Cowan |
| Photo editor | Marcos Townsend |
| Founded | June 3, 1778 |
| Political alignment | Canadian federalism |
| Language | English |
| Relaunched | August 25, 1785 |
| Headquarters |
1010, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest Suite 200 Montreal, Quebec H3B 5L1 |
| Circulation | 116,446 Daily 133,438 Saturday |
| ISSN | 0384-1294 |
| OCLC number | 456824368 |
| Website | montrealgazette.com |
The Montreal Gazette, formerly titled The Gazette, is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, after three other daily English newspapers shut down at various times during the second half of the 20th century. It is one of the French-speaking province's two last surviving English-language dailies; the other is the Sherbrooke Record, which serves the anglophone minority in the Eastern Townships southeast of Montreal.
Founded in 1778 by Fleury Mesplet, The Gazette is Quebec's oldest daily newspaper and Canada's oldest daily newspaper still in publication. The oldest newspaper overall is the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph (coincidentally, also the only English-language newspaper in its city), which was established in 1764 and is published weekly.
Fleury Mesplet founded a French-language weekly newspaper called La Gazette du commerce et littéraire, pour la ville et district de Montréal on June 3, 1778. It was the first entirely French-language newspaper in Canada. The paper did not accept advertising aside for the various books Mesplet also published. The articles were meant to promote discussion, and focused on literature and philosophy, as well as various anecdotal articles, poems and letters. This paper, which was considered an organ for pro-American Revolutionary propaganda; Mesplet, an immigrant from France, had previously lived in Philadelphia, and sided with the Americans when they occupied Montreal during the American Revolutionary War. The newspaper was shut down in 1779 when Mesplet and the editor, Valentin Jautard were arrested for sedition and imprisoned for three years.
Mesplet began a second weekly, The Montreal Gazette / La Gazette de Montréal, on August 25, 1785, which had a dual French-English bilingual format similar to that used by the Quebec Gazette. Its offices were located in the house of Joseph Lemoyne de Longueuil on rue de la Capitale. French columns were in the left-hand column and English columns in the right-hand column. The columns were originally written in French and translated to English by Valentin Jautard, who served as editor until his death in 1787. The columns were mostly on education, religion and literature, and after 1788 on politics. Foreign and local news made up the rest of the paper. The paper took a Voltairian and anti-clerical stance, wanted Quebec to have its own legislative assembly, and sought to import the principles of the French revolution to Quebec. The newspaper also introduced advertising and announcements, taking up half of four pages. It is the direct ancestor of the current newspaper. The newspaper did well, and Mesplet's operation moved to Notre-Dame Street in 1787. Mesplet continued to operate the newspaper until his death in 1794.
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