Picture yourself driving north of Toronto into big-box suburban territory. You turn off into a little industrial parkade. There’s a Keg, a Moxies, and then a stubby beige office building, six storeys high.
In a fifth floor suite you will find Canso Investment Counsel Limited, maybe picture Dunder Mifflin, but bigger, with maybe 40 or 50 employees. That’s what it looks like. But looks can be deceiving. Canso might be the most powerful media company that we have never talked about here at Canadaland.
And they may be one of the few companies in Canada that is still making serious money off of Canadian news companies. They are now the biggest owner of Corus Entertainment, which includes Global News. Previously, they’ve taken major positions in Postmedia, Nordstar and Black Press. They currently hold over $60 billion in client assets according to their website.
Who are they? Why do they keep bailing out dying Canadian legacy news companies? What do they expect in return? And what does it all mean for the news?
Host: Jesse Brown
Credits: Gemma Boothroyd (Reporter), Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor & Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)
Fact checking by Julian Abraham
Additional music by Audio Network
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