The Canadian Press
Canadian private news agency established in 1917
The Canadian Press (CP; French: La Presse canadienne, PC) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a private, not-for-profit cooperative owned and operated by its member newspapers for most of its history. In mid-2010, however, it announced plans to become a for-profit business owned by three media companies once certain conditions were met.
Over the years, The Canadian Press and its affiliates have adapted to reflect changes in the media industry, including technological changes and the growing demand for rapid news updates. It currently offers a wide variety of text, audio, photographic, video, and graphic content to websites, radio, television, and commercial clients in addition to newspapers and its longstanding ally, the Associated Press (AP), a global news service based in the United States.
History
Initially, Canada had only regional news associations, lacking a national wire service. The Canadian Press was created by an act of Parliament as a news co-operative, with an annual government grant from 1917 to 1924, for the purpose of helping newspapers cover and distribute news across the country. Initially operating as a distribution network, its first editorial staff came on board during World War I to report on the efforts of Canadian soldiers overseas.
In 1940, the Canadian government suspended the broadcast licenses of British United Press and Transradio Press Service both of whom, unlike Canadian Press, sold commercial sponsorships for its news bulletins in violation of government policy. Transport minister C.D. Howe, who was responsible for broadcasting policy, announced that the two wire services must "show their news source is accurate" in order to retain their licenses.
The public source identifies “The Canadian Press” as canadian private news agency established in 1917. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Canadian, Press and private.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2410130. VIAF identifies the subject as 131293522. The Library of Congress control number is n86803018. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 2010, 1924 and 1940.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Canadian Press” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.