About Le Courrier du Sud

Le Courrier du Sud

Le Courrier du Sud is a free French-language weekly tabloid newspaper based in Longueuil, Quebec — the paper of the South Shore suburbs across the St. Lawrence from Montreal, founded in 1947 by Jean-Paul Auclair as a bilingual newspaper in the former city of Montreal South. Owned by Gravité Média alongside sister weeklies La Relève, Le Reflet, Le Soleil de Châteauguay, and Le Journal Saint-François, the paper is distributed in print at 400 drop-off points and online, reaching a reported 143,992 homes each week across Longueuil, Brossard, and Saint-Lambert — and it has won first-place finishes at the Grands Prix des Hebdos, Quebec's weekly-newspaper awards, in both 2024 and 2025.

Overview

Le Courrier du Sud is a free weekly tabloid published in French from Longueuil, Quebec, on Montreal's South Shore. Founded in 1947 by Jean-Paul Auclair in the former city of Montreal South — initially as a bilingual newspaper, also known at the time as The South Courier — it has served the South Shore suburbs for more than 75 years. The paper is owned by Gravité Média, the Montérégie media company founded in 2017 by Julie Voyer, and its sister publications are La Relève, Le Reflet, Le Soleil de Châteauguay, and Le Journal Saint-François, along with the online business outlet L'Information d'affaires d'ici.

The paper is distributed both online and in print at 400 drop-off points across its market: the Longueuil boroughs of Le Vieux-Longueuil, Saint-Hubert, and Greenfield Park, plus Brossard and Saint-Lambert. Its reported weekly reach is 143,992 homes — one of the largest circulations of any free weekly in Quebec. The paper's tagline describes it as "un hebdomadaire branché au quotidien" — a weekly plugged into the daily — "un incontournable de l'actualité à Brossard, Longueuil et Saint-Lambert": essential reading for South Shore news. Its headquarters are in Candiac, Quebec, and its website is lecourrierdusud.ca.

History

Le Courrier du Sud was founded in 1947 by Jean-Paul Auclair in the former city of Montreal South, a suburb across the river from Montreal, as a bilingual newspaper — The South Courier in English, Le Courrier du Sud in French. The founding reflected the postwar growth of the South Shore suburbs, communities that needed their own paper as they grew from villages into cities.

Auclair owned the paper for more than half a century. In 1998, he sold Le Courrier du Sud to Québecor, along with three other weeklies that have since disappeared: the Brossard Éclair, Le Journal de Saint-Hubert, and the Magazine de Saint-Lambert. The Québecor era placed the paper within the province's largest newspaper group.

In 2013, Québecor sold its 74 regional publications — grouped within its Sun Media subsidiary — to TC Media (Transcontinental), in one of the largest transactions in Quebec newspaper history. TC Media became the dominant player in the province's weekly press. But in 2017, TC Media announced its intention to divest its regional newspapers, and the papers were sold off in lots. Le Courrier du Sud was acquired by the newly founded Gravité Média, created in 2017 by Julie Voyer — until recently the general manager of TC Media for the Montérégie region. Along with the Courrier du Sud, Gravité acquired Le Journal Saint-François, Le Soleil de Châteauguay, Le Reflet, the Brossard Éclair, and L'Information d'affaires d'ici. TC Transcontinental, TC Media's parent, continued to print the papers and distribute them through the Publisac.

Under Gravité, the Brossard Éclair — the Courrier du Sud's Brossard sister — first became an insert within its "big brother," and the two publications were fully merged in 2019, consolidating the South Shore weeklies under the Courrier du Sud banner. Founder Jean-Paul Auclair died in January 2010, but the paper he founded in 1947 continues as the South Shore's free weekly.

The paper's recent journalism has been recognized at the highest level of Quebec's weekly press: Le Courrier du Sud won first-place finishes at the Grands Prix des Hebdos — the annual awards of Hebdos Québec, the association of Quebec's weekly newspapers — in 2024 and again in 2025, marking it as one of the province's leading weeklies.

Content and Coverage

Le Courrier du Sud covers local news across its South Shore market: municipal politics in Longueuil, Brossard, and Saint-Lambert — including the amalgamated city's borough politics and the region's development debates — urban development and planning, culture and community life, crime and public safety, and the everyday issues of suburban Quebec.

The paper's free-weekly model shapes its journalism: distributed at 400 drop-off points rather than by subscription, it must earn its readers' attention each week with relevant, accessible local reporting. Its coverage of urban development is particularly significant on the South Shore, where the construction of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) light-rail network, the redevelopment of commercial corridors, and the densification debates have made planning the region's dominant public issue.

The paper also carries the community content of a free weekly — cultural listings, local sports, community announcements — and its digital edition extends the coverage with daily updates, in keeping with its "hebdomadaire branché au quotidien" positioning.

Coverage and Audience

Le Courrier du Sud serves the French-speaking suburban communities of Montreal's South Shore: Longueuil (including the boroughs of Le Vieux-Longueuil, Saint-Hubert, and Greenfield Park), Brossard, and Saint-Lambert, with distribution also reaching Ville Lemoyne. Its reported weekly reach of 143,992 homes makes it one of the most widely distributed weeklies in Quebec.

The paper's readers are the suburban families, professionals, and retirees of the South Shore — a population that is largely francophone, relatively affluent, and deeply engaged in municipal politics. The free distribution model means the paper reaches readers who might not subscribe to a newspaper, broadening its audience beyond the typical news consumer.

As a Gravité Média title, the Courrier du Sud is part of a Montérégie media group whose papers collectively cover much of the region — from Châteauguay to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu — giving the South Shore's readers a regional news ecosystem under independent, locally rooted ownership.

Ownership

Le Courrier du Sud is owned by Gravité Média, the media company founded in 2017 by Julie Voyer. Gravité's holdings include the weeklies La Relève, Le Reflet, Le Soleil de Châteauguay, and Le Journal Saint-François, plus the online business publication L'Information d'affaires d'ici. The company is headquartered in Candiac, Quebec.

The Gravité ownership represents the latest chapter in the paper's passage through Quebec's newspaper consolidation: from independent founder (Auclair, 1947–1998) to Québecor (1998–2013) to TC Media (2013–2017) to the independent regional group Gravité Média (2017–present). The return to independent, regionally rooted ownership has coincided with the paper's award-winning run at the Grands Prix des Hebdos.

Digital Presence

Le Courrier du Sud publishes online at lecourrierdusud.ca, where the free weekly print edition is complemented by daily digital news updates, in line with its positioning as a weekly "plugged into the daily." The website serves the South Shore's francophone readers — including the younger audiences who encounter the paper first online — and carries the digital advertising, classifieds, obituaries, and newsletters that support the free print model.

The paper is a member of Gravité's web-media division, and its digital operations include newsletters and social media distribution. For the South Shore, Le Courrier du Sud remains what Jean-Paul Auclair founded in 1947: the local paper — free, weekly, and still essential reading from Longueuil to Brossard to Saint-Lambert, now in its fourth ownership era and its eighth decade.