About The StarPhoenix

The StarPhoenix

The StarPhoenix is the daily newspaper of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan — the paper of record for the province's largest city and the northern prairie. First published as The Saskatoon Phoenix on October 17, 1902, it became a daily in 1909, was renamed the Saskatoon Capital in 1910, and took its modern form in January 1928 when the Sifton family of Winnipeg bought the city's two rival dailies — the Saskatoon Daily Star and the Daily Phoenix — and amalgamated them into the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Owned by Postmedia Network, the sister paper of Regina's Leader-Post, it has chronicled 120 years of the prairie city: the wheat boom, the university, the potash age and the modern Saskatoon. It publishes at thestarphoenix.com.

Overview

Saskatoon — the Paris of the Prairies, a city of about 280,000 on the South Saskatchewan River, the province's largest city — is the economic and cultural capital of northern Saskatchewan: the University of Saskatchewan, the potash industry, the tech sector, the arts. The StarPhoenix is its daily newspaper: the newsroom covers Saskatoon city council, the region's municipalities, the courts, the university, the potash and uranium industries, agriculture and the life of the river city.

The paper's distinction is its city: the paper of record for Saskatchewan's largest city — the Bridge City's conversation, its watchdog, its memory. From the 1928 amalgamation until the launch of the Saskatoon Metro edition in April 2016, it was the city's only daily newspaper — 88 years as the single daily voice of the river city, the paper everyone read, the record everyone shared. The StarPhoenix's front pages on the university's crises, the potash deals, the municipal scandals and the Blades' playoff runs are the city's memory. In a city defined by its river — the bridges, the Meewasin Valley, the campus on the east bank — the paper's journalism is woven into the community's identity. Its archives — 1,266,714 searchable pages from 1902–2026 — document the prairie city's history.

History

The StarPhoenix's lineage is a story of prairie journalism's consolidation. The Saskatoon Phoenix was first published on October 17, 1902 — following a short-lived attempt, the Saskatoon Sentinel — in the boomtown at the river crossing. It became a daily paper in 1909 and was renamed the Saskatoon Capital in 1910. The paper was sold and bought several times, at one point owned by W. F. Herman, the future owner of the Windsor Star.

By 1927 Saskatoon had two dailies — the Saskatoon Daily Star and the Daily Phoenix — and in January 1928 both were bought by the Sifton family of Winnipeg and amalgamated into the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix; in the early 1980s the spelling was modernized to StarPhoenix. The paper chronicled the city's twentieth century: the wheat boom — the homesteaders, the elevators, the grain pouring through the city — the university's growth from a prairie college to a research powerhouse, the Depression, the potash age and the modern river city. The StarPhoenix's archives are the documentary record of the Bridge City: the boomtown, the university, the hospitals, the bridges themselves and the making of modern Saskatoon. In the early 1990s it was owned by Armadale; in 1995 Conrad Black purchased it for Hollinger International — days after the purchase, dozens of employees were fired in cost-cutting; in 2000 it was sold to CanWest Global Communications, and then to Postmedia. The paper puts out six editions each week and publishes the weekly Bridges.

Content and Sections

The modern StarPhoenix is built around the river city. Saskatoon city council anchors the news pages — the paper covers the mayor and council with a dedicated bureau — extending to the region's municipalities, from Martensville to the northern communities. The courts beat covers the region's legal community; education coverage spans the school boards and the University of Saskatchewan — one of Canada's great research universities.

The potash industry receives sustained attention reflecting the region's identity: the mines, the companies, the markets, the royalties, the takeovers — the StarPhoenix's resource coverage is read across the sector, and its reporting on the potash industry's fate has repeatedly made national news. Agriculture — the wheat, the canola, the pulse crops, the harvest reports — is a constant thread, the prairie's annual rhythm. The university — the campus, the research breakthroughs, the Huskies athletics, the town-gown debates — is covered with depth reflecting its central place in the city's life. The arts — the Remai Modern, the festivals, the Broadway Theatre, the city's cultural life — are a signature, reflecting Saskatoon's creative energy. Sports coverage centres on the WHL's Saskatoon Blades, the Roughriders' Saskatoon following and the university Huskies. Opinion pages carry editorials, columns and letters from the river city, and feature sections cover food, homes, health and community life. The weekly Bridges extends the paper's reach.

Coverage and Audience

The StarPhoenix serves Saskatoon and northern Saskatchewan — a market of roughly 500,000 people across the river city, the prairie towns and the northern communities. Its audience is the city's professionals, university community, potash workers, farmers and the families of the Bridge City.

Weekly circulation was reported at 269,442 as of 2013; the paper publishes six editions each week in print with continuous digital coverage. The paper's political coverage carries weight in the province — Saskatoon's ridings are closely watched, and the StarPhoenix's reporting on the city, the university and the resource industries is routinely cited provincially. Its legislative coverage from Regina is read by the city's MLAs; its investigations into city hall have repeatedly made provincial news. In the river city, the paper's scoops, editorials and letters pages are the public square — the place where Saskatoon argues about its bridges, its arena, its university and its future.

Ownership

The StarPhoenix is owned by Postmedia Network Inc., Canada's largest newspaper chain, which acquired it through the Canwest lineage. Within Postmedia, the paper shares national content, digital platforms and corporate services with the chain's other papers — including its sister paper the Leader-Post in Regina — while maintaining its Saskatoon newsroom and editorial identity. It is also part of the canada.com web portal.

Postmedia itself is publicly traded and majority-owned by the U.S. investment firm Chatham Asset Management. The paper's lineage — from the 1902 Phoenix through the 1928 Sifton amalgamation, the Hollinger and Canwest eras to Postmedia — connects the boomtown press to the digital age: 120 years of owners, but a single mission — the Bridge City's daily record.

Digital Presence

The paper's website, thestarphoenix.com, is a continuously updated prairie operation: breaking Saskatoon news, city-hall coverage, Blades reporting, columnists, university news, photo galleries and video, optimized for the mobile-first reader. The site runs on Postmedia's shared digital infrastructure, offering digital subscriptions, e-edition replicas of the print paper, newsletters and the weekly Bridges to readers across the river city and the northern prairie.

On social media the StarPhoenix distributes breaking Saskatoon news, Blades scores, university stories and columnists to a large river-city following. As of 2026, The StarPhoenix continues to publish — six editions a week in print, continuously online — more than 120 years after the first Phoenix, still the river city's paper of record, still the Bridge City's daily, still its memory, still its voice, still its conscience, still standing after 120 years, still the Phoenix, still rising, still and always.

The 1928 Sifton amalgamation — the Daily Star plus the Daily Phoenix — created Saskatoon's paper: the only daily in the city from 1928 to 2016. From the October 17, 1902 Saskatoon Phoenix to the modernized StarPhoenix spelling of the early 1980s, with its weekly Bridges, it remains the river city's record: the university, the potash, the prairie.