Judge authorizes plan to transform 6 Quebec dailies into employee cooperatives

Quebec's Superior Court has authorized a plan that transforms six insolvent regional French-language newspapersinto employee cooperatives and reduces pensions for retirees by 30 per cent.

Justice Daniel Dumais' ruling, issued Monday, brings to a close a months-long saga that reachedQuebec's government, which loaned the papers' ownership group millions in interim financing in an attempt to protect about 350 news jobs.

The daily newspapers affected by the decision are Le Soleil inQuebecCity, Le Droit in Ottawa-Gatineau, Le Nouvelliste in Trois-Rivires, La Tribune in Sherbrooke, La Voix de l'Est in Granby and Le Quotidien in Saguenay.

Dumais' ruling also blocks the ability of retirees, who had their pensions cut, from suing the new employee-owned entities.

The judge says he understands retirees will be disappointed but his decision saves what was left to be saved from the insolvent newspaper group.

Estelle Tremblay, a lawyer defending the retirees, says she found at least eight errors of law in Dumais' decision and the group is considering filing an appeal.

Groupe Capitales Mdias, which owned the six dailies, had lost $25 million in 2018, the year before it filed for bankruptcy protection.