About Le Quotidien

Le Quotidien

Le Quotidien ("The Daily") is the French-language newspaper of Saguenay, Quebec — the paper of record for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, the great northern lake country. Established on October 1, 1973, as Le Quotidien du Saguenay Lac-St-Jean to replace Le Soleil's Saguenay edition, it has chronicled more than 50 years of the region: the aluminum age, the forestry, the blueberry fields, the fjord and the proud, distinctive culture of the Saguenéens and Jeannois. Now a digital publication — the print edition ceased in 2020, except for the Saturday edition Le Progrès — owned by the employee cooperative Coopérative nationale de l'information indépendante (CN2i), it remains the region's paper of record. It publishes at lequotidien.com.

Overview

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean — the vast region north of Quebec City, centred on the city of Saguenay (the amalgamated Chicoutimi, Jonquière and La Baie) and the great Lake Saint-Jean — is one of Quebec's most distinctive regions: the aluminum smelters, the forestry, the blueberries, the Saguenay Fjord, and a people famous across Quebec for their accent, their humour and their regional pride. Le Quotidien is its newspaper: the newsroom covers Saguenay city council, the region's municipalities, the courts, health care, education (including the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), the aluminum industry, the forestry and the region's cultural life.

The paper's distinction is its market: the paper of record for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean — the region's conversation, its watchdog, its memory. Its political coverage carries weight in the region's ridings; its industrial reporting on aluminum and forestry is read across the province. The Quotidien's front pages on smelter modernizations, forestry crises, municipal mergers and the region's health-care battles are fixtures of the Saguenay's debate. In a region famous for its fierce local pride — where the Saguenéens' accent and humour are known across Quebec — the paper's journalism is woven into the community's identity: the chronicler of the aluminum century and the witness of the region's transformations.

History

Le Quotidien was established on October 1, 1973, as Le Quotidien du Saguenay Lac-St-Jean — created to replace Le Soleil's Saguenay edition, giving the region its own daily. Initially owned by Unimédia, it was a broadsheet paper with a circulation of about 26,000 in 1980. The paper was sold to Power Corporation's Gesca division, becoming part of the great francophone press consolidation.

The paper chronicled the region's modern history: the aluminum age — the Alcan smelters of the Saguenay, among the largest in the world — the forestry, the 1996 Saguenay Flood (the Déluge) that devastated the region, the municipal mergers that created the city of Saguenay in 2002, and the region's economic transformations. The Quotidien's coverage of the Déluge — the rains, the dam failures, the evacuations, the rebuilding — is the definitive journalistic record of one of Quebec's great natural disasters. Its archives are the documentary record of the modern Saguenay: the smelters, the mills, the flood, the mergers and the region's reinvention. It was sold to Groupe Capitales Médias in 2015; when that company filed for creditor protection in 2019, the employees formed the CN2i cooperative. In 2020 it ceased its print edition, except for its Saturday edition Le Progrès, and continues as an online newspaper.

Content and Sections

The modern Quotidien is built around the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. Saguenay city council anchors the news pages — the paper covers the mayor and council with a dedicated bureau — extending to the region's municipalities: Alma, Roberval, Saint-Félicien, Dolbeau-Mistassini and the lake country's towns. The courts beat covers the region's legal community; health reporting follows the CIUSSS du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean; education coverage spans the school boards, the cégeps and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

The aluminum industry receives sustained attention reflecting the region's identity: the smelters, the unions, the energy contracts, the modernization investments, the carbon transition — the Quotidien's industrial coverage is read across the sector, and its reporting on the smelters' fate has repeatedly made provincial and national news. The forestry — the mills, the logging, the land-use debates — is a constant thread. The region's cultural life — the festivals, the Traversée du lac Saint-Jean (the great lake crossing swim), the museums, the distinctive Saguenay humour — is covered with depth, reflecting a culture famous across Quebec for its warmth and its wit. Sports coverage centres on the QMJHL's Chicoutimi Saguenéens, the region's deep hockey culture and the outdoor life of the fjord country. Opinion pages carry editorials, columns and letters from the region, and feature sections cover arts, food, homes and community life. Its archives, reaching back to 1973, document the region's modern history — the aluminum century, the forestry, the Déluge, the mergers and the making of the contemporary Saguenay: a paper-of-record archive that is among the great documentary resources of northern Quebec.

Coverage and Audience

Le Quotidien serves Saguenay and the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean — a market of roughly 275,000 people across the region's cities, towns and forest country. Its audience is the region's aluminum workers, forestry workers, health-care professionals, educators and the proud Saguenéens and Jeannois.

The paper is now digital with continuous online coverage, plus the Saturday print edition Le Progrès. The paper's political coverage carries weight in the region — the Saguenay's ridings are closely watched, and the Quotidien's reporting on the region's industries, institutions and politics is routinely cited provincially. Its parliamentary coverage from Quebec City is read by the region's MNAs; its investigations into municipal affairs have repeatedly made provincial news. In the region, the paper's scoops, editorials and letters pages are the public square — the place where the Saguenay argues about its smelters, its mayors, its hospitals and its future.

Ownership

Le Quotidien 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 Le Quotidien one of the few employee-owned newspapers in Canada.

The paper's lineage — from the 1973 Unimédia founding through the Gesca and Capitales Médias eras to the CN2i cooperative — connects the region's press history to the digital age: 50 years of owners, but a single mission — the Saguenay's daily record.

Digital Presence

Le Quotidien's website, lequotidien.com, is a continuously updated digital operation: breaking Saguenay news, municipal coverage, industrial 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 Saguenay and the region's diaspora.

On social media Le Quotidien distributes breaking Saguenay news, industrial scoops, columnists and the day's front page to a large regional following. As of 2026, Le Quotidien continues to publish — digital-first, daily in rhythm — more than 50 years after its first edition, still the paper of record for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, still the region's daily, still its memory, still its voice, still its conscience, still standing after 50 years, still the Quotidien, still the Saguenay's own paper, still and always the Daily.

For the Saguenéens and Jeannois — the people of the fjord, the lake, the blueberry fields — Le Quotidien is the regional institution: the aluminum towns, the forestry camps, the distinct, proud culture of the north. From its 1973 creation to replace Le Soleil's Saguenay edition, through Unimédia and Gesca to the CN2i cooperative, it has been the north's daily — and as a digital publication with its Saturday Le Progrès, it remains the region's paper of record.