The Canada Gazette is dead.
Although long-expected as part of the 2012 Federal budget, the May 8th publication of a regulation made it official – the Canada Gazette will cease to be published in hard copy starting on April 1st, 2014, saving the government about $300,000 annually.
This is not, however, the end of the Gazette, which has been continuously published by the government of Canada since 1841. It will continue to be published online and will be free of charge to all who wish to access it. For what is one of the venerable institutions of the Canadian government, and one which has seen many, many changes over its existence, this is easily one of the most significant shifts in the format of the Gazette. That being said, it is also in keeping with the gradual and inexorable march toward digital formats that are gradually enveloping even the most hidebound of print formats, much like the Blob from the eponymous 1950s cheesy classic film.
As these formats continue to make the leap from print to digital, we’ll continue to do our best to keep our users abreast of these changes. As they say – watch this space.
For additional information, be sure to check out Yosie Saint-Cyr’s enormously informative post from Slaw.