Canada's Financial Post turns 100 today

The Financial Post, a business newspaper in Canada, celebrates its 100th birthday on Friday, and the paper’s web site has a number of features looking at its history.

Diane Francis of the paper’s editorial staff wrote, “The Post’s mainstay has been news and analysis about the country’s capital markets, economic well-being and business events.

“Its editorials have been important to the political debate, even if inconsistent. Immediately after its launch, for instance, the paper lined up with pro-British Tories to defeat the Liberals’ proposal to ordain free trade with the United States. In 1988, The Post fiercely supported the free trade initiative of Brian Mulroney’s Tories.

“In the early 1900s, the Post railed against the formation of powerful trade labour unions infiltrated by European communists, but in 1933 the paper endorsed Imperial Oil’s five-day workweek and compulsory retirement age of 62.

“Most significantly, however, the Financial Post’s news coverage has accurately documented the transformation of Canada from a sleepy agricultural nation into a diversified economy with sound financial fundamentals.”

Francis later added, “Other newspapers in the country gave business coverage short shrift, mostly tucking abbreviated stock market tables behind sports sections. But in the 1970s, the appetite for reliable business information and analysis began growing steadily along with the public’s interest, educational levels and savings rates.”

Read more here. The Post must be liking the fact that The Wall Street Journal closed its Canada bureaus last year.