“The addition of these highly desirable titles really expands the regional coverage we have in Eastern and Western Canada.  The new papers bring even more rich content to researchers and scholars who use Canadian Newsstand. And K-12 educators and students gain valuable additional resources as well, through our eLibrary Canada and bigchalk Library Canada,” said Stephen Abram, vice president, corporate development, for Micromedia ProQuest in Toronto.

The new group of titles includes exclusive rights to distribute 10 Hollinger Canadian Newspapers, and non-exclusive rights to distribute 10 GTC Transcontinental papers and the independent Whitehorse Star for a total of 21 new titles in Micromedia ProQuest databases. Key titles include:  St John’s Telegram, Halifax Daily News, Charlottetown Guardian, Prince Rupert Daily News, Prince George Citizen, and Whitehorse Star, based in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

The agreement includes all available electronic backfiles with a one-week embargo on content. All of the newspapers will be available by subscription in Canadian Newsstand in three packages: as packaged subsets, major dailies packages, and a complete package, or as individual titles. Content will be available once the data load is complete.

ProQuest customers can sign up for the ProQuest specialized email notification lists at: http://www.proquest.com/proquest/em-notecontent.shtml to receive notification when new content is added.

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE: CWG; TSE: CGS.S and CGS.A; (www.canwestglobal.com) is an international media company. CanWest, Canada’s largest publisher of daily newspapers, owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in newspapers, conventional television, out-of-home advertising, specialty cable channels and radio networks in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Company’s program production and distribution division and interactive media division operate in several countries throughout the world.

ProQuest Company is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is a leading provider of value-added information and content to the library, classroom, automotive and powersports markets. We provide products and services to our customers through two business segments: Information & Learning and Business Solutions. Through our Information & Learning segment, which primarily serves the library and classroom markets, we aggregate and publish value-added content from a wide range of sources including newspapers, periodicals and books. Our Business Solutions segment is primarily engaged in the delivery in electronic form of comprehensive parts and service information to the automotive market. It also provides dealers in the powersports (motorcycle, marine, RV and outdoor power) markets with management systems that enable them to manage their inventory, customer service and other aspects of their businesses.

ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and distributing information worldwide to researchers, faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its strength in business and economics, general-reference, humanities, social sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide.  Users access the information through the ProQuest® Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-Healey™ electronic and microform resources, UMI® microform and print reference products, bigchalk™ educational resources, and XanEdu™ online faculty and student resources.  For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.