The newspaper chain that successfully led the national campaign for press subsidies, FP Newspapers Inc., lost more than $6 million last year, new records show. The publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and other Manitoba titles received $989,000 in payroll rebates at taxpayers’ expense.

“We will have to save ourselves,” then-publisher Bob Cox, chair of News Media Canada, testified at 2019 hearings of the Commons finance committee. “All of us are engaged in transforming our business models so we can continue to fulfill the key role that a free press must play in a healthy democracy.”

FP Newspapers reported a $6,258,000 operating loss last year despite ongoing subsidies that have averaged a million annually. Print advertising revenue fell $3.5 million or 15 percent year over year, from $24,147,000 to $20,630,000. Circulation revenue fell three percent