Yesterday’s online edition of the weekly Journal Pioneer newspaper featured an article from a time traveller who had the results of a party leadership vote that will be held tomorrow, February 7 (see the second paragraph of “NDP has a fresh face at the helm” from page A4). I wish they had also included tomorrow’s winning Lotto 6/49 numbers.
From page A4 of the Thursday, February 5, 2026 Journal Pioneer
While it seems likely that the new leader of the PEI New Democratic Party will be Thomas Burleigh, as I believe he is still the only declared candidate, I’m guessing it is also possible that someone could be nominated from the floor of their convention, or Thomas could even decide to drop out at the last minute.
The article goes on to point out that the results of the PEI Progressive Conservative party leadership contest, which is also being held tomorrow, “weren’t known when this column was written.” Certainly true.
I read this article early this morning and am writing this post about fourteen hours later, and I still don’t know what to make of it all.
My decades-old bookmark for the Journal Pioneer newspaper that continued to bounce me over to the Saltwire Network PEI news at https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/ for the past few years today dumped me into domain name purgatory.
UPDATE November 5, 2024, – it’s back, with another one year registration!
The Journal Pioneer is larger than The Guardian this morning, with a huge white border around each page. The Guardian is the same size as it was yesterday.
There have been a few drips of change here and there since Postmedia bought the Saltwire network in August. Yesterday the cartoons in The Guardian were in colour for the first time I can remember. The Saltwire branding has been almost completely removed from both papers.
Will Postmedia keep two papers on PEI? Only time will tell. I hope we didn’t witness the Journal supernova today.
This poem was printed in the Summerside Journal and Western Pioneer on December 5, 1867, top and centre on the front page. Author unknown, from the year when the Dominion of Canada was born on land stolen from the original inhabitants of Turtle Island.
For had he not dominon where now his steps intrude?
From the Summerside Journal and Western Pioneer, December 5, 1867, front page.
We have subscribed to both of PEI’s daily newspapers for as long as I can remember. This morning we only received The Guardian and a letter explaining that the Journal Pioneer has been “combined” with The Guardian. Most of our neighbours only receive the Journal as it has always been the paper for the western end of PEI and The Guardian for eastern areas, so they will be very surprised and possibly upset by this change in routine.
I also found out this morning that I am now a member and not a subscriber, which I suppose is to give me the sense that I was part of this business decision and approve it, rather than being a customer who paid for a service that I’m not going to receive.
In the Saltwire Network CEO’s letter, they say their advertising revenue dropped by nearly two-thirds almost overnight, so they have been forced to temporarily lay off 40% of their workforce, including journalists. Instead of publishing nearly three dozen papers today across Atlantic Canada, they published four.
Other than being quite a thin paper, today’s edition doesn’t really seem much different from recent ones. Both of PEI’s dailies were already carrying heavy amounts of content from the other Saltwire Network papers and the Postmedia Network and were starting to look like each other, save for different local advertising and obituaries (one of the big reasons we kept The Guardian). When you read one, you had almost read the other as much of the local content in each was shared.
We were already seriously considering dropping our subscription to The Guardian this spring because the price for each was closing in on $400 a year. My mother does not use digital technology so receiving the newspaper is a big thing for her, but the content duplication was becoming very obvious and we couldn’t justify spending nearly $800 a year anymore. I think that decision has probably now been made for us, despite the assurance that this is a temporary measure.
When the Journal Pioneer stopped being an afternoon paper many years ago and moved to morning delivery, and since both papers have been owned by the same companies for many decades, I was always amazed they didn’t amalgamate the two publications years ago. This time of crisis could be the time this decision is finally made. I’m sad that other than the concern I feel for those who will lose their jobs, I just don’t care.
