Newspaper subscribers will not have to pay the additional eight per cent sales tax when the new Harmonized Sales Tax comes into effect in July 2010. The news of new ‘point of sale rebates’ was announced Thursday by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, along with exemptions for some prepared foods and beverages.

“Community newspapers will be exempt from the HST. We thought long and hard about that one. We came to the conclusion that newspapers continue to play a vital role in democracy. They help engender an informed civil discourse. Everybody’s got an opinion, but sometimes they are uninformed,” the Premier told CCNA President Mike Williscraft (Niagara this Week) in a telephone conversation on Thursday morning when making the announcement. “Newspapers play a vital role in that regard, so there is going to be a new exemption for our newspapers when it comes to HST, which, otherwise, would have been applied.”

OCNA President Abbas Homayed (Sudbury Northern Life) spoke with Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci at a community event on Thursday. Bartolucci said OCNA Publishers did a great job of stating their case during the OCNA Queen’s Park Day on October 21. Publishers from across Ontario attended meetings with MPPs and Ministers throughout the day to speak our case that newspaper readers should not be faced with an additional tax to read the news of their communities.

Although our industry has not been successful in obtaining an HST exemption for Classified Advertising as well, the point-of-sale rebate for subscribers will benefit readers of more than 120 community newspapers in Ontario, said OCNA Executive Director Anne Lannan. She credits CCNA/CNA CEO John Hinds who advocated on this issue throughout the summer on behalf of community and daily newspapers in the province. Our collective voices were heard.

The provincial government has classified newspapers as print newspapers that contain news, editorials, feature stories or other information of interest to the general public, and that are published at regular intervals, typically on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, but not flyers, inserts, magazines, periodicals and shoppers.

source: ocna.org

Metroland Media Group’s Lifenews.ca, is a new ‘celebrations’ site dedicated to marking life stage milestones of people in Ontario.

Lifenews.ca aggregates obituaries, baby births, marriage announcements and other celebrations from Ontario newspapers. Visitors can access Lifenews.ca directly or from the partner newspaper sites. They can search by name, date or category, and leave condolences and congratulations in Guest Books. Viewers can also link to Facebook to share comments or announcements on their profile. Future plans include the option of adding video tributes and announcements.

Beverly Crandon, Director General Classifieds, Digital for Metroland says, “We created Lifenews.ca to mark people’s lives and to satisfy our visitors’ natural human interest in the celebrations and passing of those on their street, among their families and in their communities. Their stories may be happy or sad, but they always touch a chord.”

Lifenews.ca is currently affiliated with 12 Ontario community papers with plans to add six more in the near future including papers that are currently working with an American obituaries-only site.

“When someone dies or has a baby, family and friends turn to local sources for information first, even if they live out of town. Lifenews.ca is another way these community papers can connect with their readers,” says Crandon.

Source: onca.org

Ink & Beyond is the national conference for the Canadian newspaper industry, an event where you can hear all about new concepts from international speakers, celebrate industry award winners, and catch up on the latest technology at the trade show. Hosted by the Canadian Newspaper Association, the Canadian Community Newspapers Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association, attendees will learn new strategies, network with colleagues and return home inspired!

for more information, please visit: http://www.inkandbeyond.ca/

News-Net has announced today that The Londoner and Ontario Farmer will upgrade and implement the complete AdWorks integrated ad management system into a centralized database, streamlining the workflow.

The Londoner, owned by Bowes Publishers Ltd and a subsidiary of Sun Media Corporation, has a circulation of 107,800 and is located in London, Ontario.

Ontario Farmer, owned by Bowes Publishers Ltd and a subsidiary of Sun Media Corporation, has a business-to-business paid subscription base of approximately 30,000 and is located in London, Ontario.

News-Net is home to the most advanced desktop and web based solutions available to the publishing industry worldwide.

Join News-Net and OCNA at the OCNA Spring Convention at the Bloor-Yorkville Marriott Hotel in Toronto on April 17, 2009.

OCNA hosts more than 400 community newspaper representatives at our Spring Convention each March/April. Members attend the weekend event to take advantage of a variety of training sessions offered for each department within a newspaper; network with their peers; participate in the industry Trade Show; congratulate Ontario’s Junior Citizens of the Year; and recognize the outstanding achievements of Ontario’s community newspapers at the Better Newspapers Awards.

Contact us to schedule a live demo during the show

Join News-Net and BCYCNA at the 2009 BCYCNA-Bell Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards on Saturday April 4^th 2009, Richmond BC.

The BCYCNA has been hosting the Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards for over 80 years. Dedicated to celebrating excellence amongst our member newspapers, the accolades recognize all aspects of the newspaper industry, including production, publishing, reporting, editing, advertising, photography, website design and community contribution.

This year’s BCYCNA Bell Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards will take place on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at the River Rock Casino Resort. Each year the Gala gets bigger and bigger, consistently breaking the previous year’s attendance record!
 

Contact us to schedule a live demo during the show

On January 16 2009, News-Net hosted a get-together in recognition of Philip Degraaf’s 20 years of service to News-Net.

Philip Degraaf, System Manager (pictured right), and Michael Stolarz, CEO of News-Net Inc.

“I am grateful that here at News-Net, we have so many dedicated and committed people who strive to bring the best experience to our customers” said Michael Stolarz, CEO of News-Net Inc. “Philip’s skills and experience in the newspaper publishing industry makes him invaluable to News-Net, he is able to provide the best experiences for our customers”.

Join News-Net and the Canadian Newspaper Association,  CCNA/Community Media Canada for the third annual national conference in Montreal, Quebec.

Online visionary Mitch Joel will be the first keynote speaker at Ink and Beyond 2009,  on Wednesday, May 20 at Le Centre Sheraton in Montreal.

Canada’s leading authority on digital marketing, Joel has presented to some of the world’s best-branded companies including Google, Starbucks, Unilever, Visa and Microsoft.

At Ink and Beyond, Joel will address the expansion of traditional newspapers into the digital realm in a talk titled, “Six Pixels of Separation: How Newspapers Connect in a Digital World.”

Joel’s credentials are numerous and sundry. He writes a column that appears in the Montreal Gazette and the Vancouver Sun, maintains a blog and podcast, is president of an award-winning digital marketing agency, Twist Image, co-launched music label Distort Entertainment, serves on the Canadian Marketing Association’s board of directors, and is currently writing a book due from Grand Central Publishing in fall 2009.

“We couldn’t have found a more appropriate speaker to kick off this year’s conference,” said John Hinds, CEO of both the Canadian Community Newspapers Association and the Canadian Newspaper Association. “Canadian newspapers are hungry to hear the most incisive, cutting-edge perspectives on digital publishing. Joel fits the bill perfectly.”

Ink and Beyond is the premier newspaper industry event in Canada, spotlighting the innovations newspapers are making to reach their audiences through mobile, online and print.

The conference brings together the most important decision-makers in the industry, including newspaper owners, corporate executives, publishers, editors, and marketing, advertising and online publishing executives.

The co-managed CNA and CCNA represent nearly 1,000 daily and weekly newspapers across Canada. The groups include newspapers with circulations ranging from 1,500 to more than 500,000 per day.

Contact us to schedule a live demo during the show

The Gazette at The University of Western Ontario selects AdWorks Ad Management Software as its next generation advertising system that delivers the latest technologies and innovation. The Gazette will implement the complete AdWorks integrated system after over a decade of using News-Net’s first generation Classified Ad Management Software (CAMS) that pioneered the way newspapers managed their publications.
 

The Gazette has been Western’s Daily Newspaper since 1906 and is still home to The University of Western Ontario with a population of 35,000 students.
 

News-Net is a dynamic company that provides more than 1500 newspapers with mission-critical desktop and web based solutions that scale across dailies, tri-weeklies, weeklies, as well as advertising agencies, graphic houses and magazines.

Khymn Glover of News-Net presents the News-Net Ad Campaign award at the BCYCNA – Telus Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards on April 19th 2008. David Black from Black Press accepts Gold on behalf of Grant Harris & Team of The Interior News.