About La Voix de l'Est

La Voix de l'Est

La Voix de l'Est ("The Voice of the East") is the French-language newspaper of Granby, Quebec — the paper of record for the Haute-Yamaska region at the western gateway of the Eastern Townships. Founded by Imprimerie Rapide with its first issue on June 20, 1935, it became a daily publication on February 24, 1945, and has chronicled 90 years of the region: the textile mills, the zoo, the agricultural heartland and the modern Montérégie. Now a digital publication — print ceased in 2023 — owned by the employee cooperative Coopérative nationale de l'information indépendante (CN2i), it remains the region's French-language paper of record. It publishes at lavoixdelest.ca.

Overview

Granby — a city of about 70,000 in the Haute-Yamaska, between Montreal and Sherbrooke — is the commercial centre of the western Townships: the manufacturing, the agri-food, the Granby Zoo (one of Quebec's great attractions), the lac Boivin and the Yamaska valley. La Voix de l'Est is its newspaper: the newsroom covers Granby city council, the region's municipalities, the courts, health care, education, the manufacturing sector, agriculture and the region's cultural life.

The paper's distinction is its market: the French-language paper of record for the Haute-Yamaska — the region's conversation, its watchdog, its memory. A weekly version of the newspaper is offered as a free supplement once a week on Wednesdays with the publication Le Plus. The paper is printed on the presses of the neighbouring daily La Tribune in Sherbrooke. La Voix de l'Est's front pages on municipal scandals, manufacturing closures, agricultural crises and the region's development battles are fixtures of the Haute-Yamaska's debate. In a region where the paper has been the daily companion for 90 years — where generations read it at the breakfast table — its journalism is woven into the community's identity.

History

La Voix de l'Est was founded by Imprimerie Rapide; the first issue was published on June 20, 1935 — in the depths of the Depression, in the great age of Granby's textile mills. It became a daily publication on February 24, 1945, and on September 7, 1945, Imprimerie Rapide changed its name to La Voix de l'Est Ltée. In 1968 the paper was sold to Journaux Trans-Canada, an affiliate of Power Corporation of Canada; in 1977 it was sold to La Tribune in Sherbrooke, becoming the Tribune's Granby sister.

The paper chronicled the region's twentieth century: the textile age — the mills of Granby employing generations — the post-war boom, the Quiet Revolution's transformation, the deindustrialization and the region's reinvention as a manufacturing and tourism hub. Its archives are the documentary record of the Haute-Yamaska: the mills, the farms, the zoo's growth from a small menagerie to one of Quebec's great attractions, the Quiet Revolution's arrival in the region and the making of the modern Montérégie. In March 2015 Gesca sold the paper, along with five others, to Groupe Capitales Médias; when that company filed for creditor protection in 2019, the employees formed the CN2i cooperative, with the transition completed in 2020. The paper's offices are at 76, rue Dufferin in Granby.

Content and Sections

The modern Voix de l'Est is built around the Haute-Yamaska. Granby city council anchors the news pages — the paper covers the mayor and council with a dedicated bureau — extending to the region's municipalities: Bromont, Cowansville, Waterloo, Farnham, Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby, Sainte-Cécile-de-Milton and the Yamaska valley towns. The courts beat covers the region's legal community, from the Granby courthouse to the region's municipal courts; health reporting follows the CIUSSS de l'Estrie; education coverage spans the school boards, the Cégep de Granby and the region's vocational institutions — the schools that train the region's workforce.

The manufacturing sector — the region's economic base, from the plastics and rubber plants to the food processors — receives sustained attention reflecting the Haute-Yamaska's industrial identity. Agriculture — the dairy farms, the orchards, the agri-food processors — is a constant thread, reflecting the Yamaska valley's rich farmland. The Granby Zoo — the region's great attraction, one of Quebec's most-visited destinations — and the tourism of the lakes and the Yamaska valley are covered with depth, reflecting the region's growing visitor economy. Sports coverage centres on the region's hockey culture, the junior teams, the Inouk (LHJAAAQ) and the summer life of the region's golf courses and lakes. Opinion pages carry editorials, columns and letters from across the Haute-Yamaska, and feature sections cover arts, food, homes, health and community life. Its archives, reaching back to 1935, document the region's history — the mills, the farms, the zoo, the Quiet Revolution, the referendums and the making of the modern Haute-Yamaska: a paper-of-record archive that is among the great documentary resources of the western Townships.

Coverage and Audience

La Voix de l'Est serves Granby and the Haute-Yamaska — a market of roughly 135,000 people across the region's cities, towns and farmland. Its audience is the region's francophones: the manufacturers, the farmers, the tourism workers, the educators and the families of the Yamaska valley.

The paper is now digital with continuous online coverage, plus the weekly free Le Plus supplement. The paper's political coverage carries weight in the region — the Haute-Yamaska's ridings are closely watched, and the Voix de l'Est's reporting on the region's institutions, industries and politics is routinely cited provincially. Its investigations into municipal affairs have repeatedly made provincial news; its editorial board's positions move the region's debate. In the region, the paper's scoops, editorials and letters pages are the public square — the place where the Haute-Yamaska argues about its mayors, its manufacturers, its farms and its future.

Ownership

La Voix de l'Est is owned by the Coopérative nationale de l'information indépendante (CN2i) — the employee-owned cooperative formed in 2019 when Groupe Capitales Médias filed for creditor protection. The cooperative model — six solidarity cooperatives publishing six regional dailies — makes La Voix de l'Est one of the few employee-owned newspapers in Canada.

The paper's lineage — from the 1935 Imprimerie Rapide founding through the Trans-Canada, La Tribune, Gesca and Capitales Médias eras to the CN2i cooperative — connects the region's press history to the digital age: 90 years of owners, but a single mission — the Haute-Yamaska's daily record.

Digital Presence

La Voix de l'Est's website, lavoixdelest.ca, is a continuously updated digital operation: breaking Haute-Yamaska news, municipal coverage, manufacturing reporting, columnists, arts and culture, photo galleries and video, optimized for the mobile-first reader. The site operates on CN2i's shared digital infrastructure, offering digital subscriptions, e-editions and newsletters to readers across the Haute-Yamaska and the region's diaspora.

On social media La Voix de l'Est distributes breaking Haute-Yamaska news, municipal scoops, columnists and the day's front page to a large regional following. As of 2026, La Voix de l'Est continues to publish — digital-first, daily in rhythm — 90 years after its first issue, still the voice of the East, still the Haute-Yamaska's daily, still its memory, still its voice, still its conscience, still standing after 90 years, still the voice of the East, still the Haute-Yamaska's own paper, still and always the voice of the East.

Ninety years after Imprimerie Rapide's first issue, La Voix de l'Est remains Granby's paper — the textile mills' town, the zoo's town, the Haute-Yamaska's voice. From the 1945 daily launch to Journaux Trans-Canada, from La Tribune's sister to the CN2i cooperative, printed on La Tribune's presses and now digital-first, it has been the region's French-language record through the Depression, the Quiet Revolution and the modern Montérégie.