About Métro

Métro

Métro — published as the Journal Métro — is the French-language free daily newspaper of Montreal, Quebec, distributed in the city's metro system and on the street. Founded in 2001 by Montreal-based Transcontinental, which licensed the brand from the Swedish group Metro International, it was from its inception the sole French-language free daily distributed inside the Montreal Metro system and STM bus terminals. Now owned by Michael Raffoul's Metro Media group, it is the only remaining paper presence of Metro International in Canada — the last Métro standing after the brand's retreat across the country. It publishes at journalmetro.com.

Overview

Montreal's free-paper wars were fought in the metro: two French-language free dailies — Métro and Quebecor's 24 Heures — battling for the racks, the station entrances and the commuters' 20 minutes. Métro is the survivor of that war's first phase and the veteran of its second: the free tabloid of the metro, the quick read for the ride — the day's Montreal news, the culture, the sports, the weather — in the international Metro format: short, visual, commuter-friendly.

The paper's distinction is its brand and its endurance: the Montreal outpost of one of the world's great free-newspaper franchises — Metro International's papers once blanketed the planet's metros, from Stockholm to New York to Mexico City — and the only one left in Canada. While considered a daily newspaper, Métro did not publish on Saturday and Sunday, preferring a "weekend edition" published on Friday. The free-paper business is won or lost on distribution: the racks, the station entrances, the hand-distributors at rush hour — and Métro's 25 years in the Montreal metro have made its green-and-white boxes part of the commute's furniture, as familiar as the ticket gates.

History

The paper was founded in 2001 by Transcontinental, which licensed the Metro brand from Metro International (founded 1995) — part of the wave of free Metro papers launched across Canada and the world under various licensees. From its inception in 2001, it held the franchise as the sole French-language free daily distributed inside the Montreal Metro system and STM bus terminals — the commuter paper of the metro's million daily riders.

In 2010, Journal Métro lost its metro franchise to Québecor Média's 24 Heures — a blow that could have killed it, as the metro's captive ridership was the paper's lifeblood; it regained the privilege in 2016 — the franchise wars' second act, and a testament to the paper's resilience. The STM's franchise decisions shaped the free-paper market: the exclusive distributor owned the commute, and the loser fought for the street. Métro survived both roles — the insider and the outsider — and kept publishing through it all. In May 2018, TC Media sold the Montreal edition of Metro, along with several other papers, to Michael Raffoul, who contracted TC Media to print the newspapers; the papers became part of the Metro Media group. In 2018, all the Metro licensees in Canada apart from Montreal were acquired by Torstar and rebranded as StarMetro; in 2019 Torstar ceased all StarMetro print editions, leaving only an online presence. That left the Montreal edition of Métro as the only remaining paper presence of Metro International in Canada — the last of the breed. Its survival is a Montreal story: the francophone commuter market's distinctness, the metro's enormous ridership, and an owner — Michael Raffoul — who bet on print's persistence in the one place where print still works: the 20 minutes between stations, where the phone's signal dies and the paper lives.

Content and Sections

The modern Métro is built around the commuter's 20 minutes. Local news anchors the coverage — Montreal city hall, the boroughs, the STM, the housing crisis, the construction cones — alongside Quebec and national news in the Metro format: short items, strong visuals, quick reads. The paper's newsroom writes for the standing reader: the headline that lands in three seconds, the story that ends before the transfer, the photo that tells it faster than words. Its front pages on the metro's own dramas — the breakdowns, the fare hikes, the REM's arrival — are read by the very commuters living them. Culture is a signature: the festivals — Jazz Fest, Just for Laughs, the Francos — the shows, the restaurants, the city's creative life, covered for the commuter who lives it.

Sports coverage centres on the Canadiens and the city's teams in commuter-friendly form. The Friday "weekend edition" is the week's pleasure read: the weekend's events, the culture, the outings. The paper's journalism is the Metro house style: accessible, visual, urban — the paper for the ride, the read for the 20 minutes that belong to no one but the commuter.

Coverage and Audience

Métro serves Greater Montreal — a market of 4.3 million people — with a readership of metro riders, students and young urbanites: the commuters who grab the paper at the station entrance. Its audience skews young, urban and multicultural — the Montreal that rides the metro.

The paper's distribution — the metro stations, the STM bus terminals, the street boxes — is its newsroom's front door: the paper meets its readers where they are. The free paper's economics are the inverse of the paid paper's: the reader pays nothing, the advertiser pays for the reader's attention, and the distributor's art is maximizing the pickup rate. Métro's quarter-century of racks, boxes and hand-distribution is a case study in the physical business of news — the logistics of getting 200,000 copies into commuters' hands before 8 a.m. Its political coverage covers the issues that move the commuter city: transit, housing, the environment, the city's governance — the politics of the daily ride, written for the people living it.

Ownership

Métro is owned by Michael Raffoul's Metro Media group, which acquired the Montreal edition from TC Media (Transcontinental) in May 2018, contracting TC Media to print the newspapers. The paper licenses the Metro brand from Metro International — the Swedish free-newspaper group founded in 1995 that pioneered the global commuter-paper model — making it the brand's last Canadian outpost, and one of the last Metro papers in North America.

The paper's lineage — from Transcontinental's 2001 licensed launch through the franchise wars with 24 Heures to Raffoul's independent Metro Media — connects the global free-paper wave to the Montreal metro's present: 25 years of free papers, free rides and free readers, and a brand that outlasted every sibling in the country.

Digital Presence

The paper's website, journalmetro.com, carries its journalism online: breaking Montreal news, culture, sports, the weekend guides, the STM service updates, optimized for the mobile-first commuter reading on the platform. The site operates on Metro Media's digital infrastructure, serving the commuter's phone as the print edition serves the commuter's hands.

On social media Métro distributes its commuter journalism — the headlines, the culture picks, the weekend guides — to a large Montreal following of riders and young urbanites. As of 2026, Métro continues — in print and online — the last Métro in Canada, still the free paper of the Montreal ride, still the green-and-white companion of the commute, still free, still Métro, still the ride's read, still and always.

The Journal Métro's franchise — the sole French-language free daily inside the Montreal Metro system and STM bus terminals — is the most valuable real estate in Quebec commuter media: a million daily riders. From Transcontinental's 2001 launch to the 2010 loss and 2016 recovery of the metro franchise, from the sale to Michael Raffoul's Metro Media in 2018, it stands alone: the last Métro in Canada, the commuters' paper.