Founded: May 21, 2007
Last updated: September 16, 2025
Current status: weekly until Christmas
Next update: September 23, 2025

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Important note on delivery - September 16, 2025
Limited strike at Canada Post interrupts home delivery of Indie to houses & duplexes – Many efforts under way to mitigate effect

By David Price, editor
Late last Friday, Canada Post’s union made the following announcement on its website: 

"As of Monday, September 15, at 12:01 am local time, postal workers will no longer process or deliver unaddressed flyers (Neighbourhood Mail). At the same time, the overtimeban will end."

The Westmount Independent is not a flyer, but it does use the Neighbourhood Mail service, so until the strike, or this aspect of it, is resolved, there will be no house-to-house delivery of our newspaper by Canada Post. What does this mean for: 

Apartments and condo buildings? No change. We have not been using Canada Post for these multi-unit buildings since its union has been in a strike position beginning in late spring. Every apartment and condo building should have been getting a bundle of newspapers to its lobby or mailroom by our private distributor since then. If not, call David at 514.935.4537.
Internet? No change.
Email? No change.
Drops to ATMs, dépanneurs, waiting rooms, municipal buildings and the Metro grocery store on Victoria Ave.? No change except to increase the number of papers dropped.
House-to-house delivery (including duplexes)?On a best-efforts basis, volunteers and I will be doing what we can. I am in good physical shape, at present, and will be targetting areas far from where we have many drop sites, as I did late last fall, e.g. large areas north of The Boulevard. Volunteers will be deployed according to what they are able to and willing to do. We are paying 15 cents per paper, payable to individuals or to the charity of their choice.
Newspaper distribution boxes? They are back, as follows:
Same as last fall:

• Côte St. Antoine/Victoria (northwest corner),
• The Boulevard/Aberdeen (southeast),
• Montrose/Mt. Pleasant (northeast),
• entrance to Murray Park (Montrose/Murray),
• entrance to Murray Park (Westmount Ave./Murray Hill),
• entrance to Queen Elizabeth Gardens (Barat/Vignal),
• Outside our building at 310 Victoria Ave.

New sites:

• Devon Park entrance on Upper Belmont,
• Greene Ave. parking lot just south of Sherbrooke, at sidewalk, south side,
• de Maisonneuve/Lansdowne entrance to Westmount Park.

Please note that the Upper Roslyn/Roslyn steps box is out of commission due to construction work there and has been for quite a few weeks.

I thank everyone, and especially our clients, for bearing with us, as they did with such grace and helpfulness last fall when we were in the same boat.

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The Westmount Independent is an independent, Westmount-owned, weekly newspaper distributed free in Westmount, Quebec, Canada. Westmount is an independent municipality on the island of Montreal, just west of downtown, and a part of the Montreal agglomeration.

2025 schedule (all dates are inclusive)

Publishing dates (advertisement preparation is always the week before):
January 14 to June 24: issues

July 1: no issue (Dominion Day observance)
July 8:  issue

July 15 to August 5 – no issues, regular summer break
August 12 to December 9: issues

Early (Friday) deadlines: April 18 (for April 22 issue), May 16 (for May 20 issue), June 20 (for June 24 issue), August 29 (for September 2 issue), October 10 (for October 14 issue), November 7 (for November 11 issue)

Spotlight on Real Estate issues: March 18, May 13, September 16 & October 21

School issue: September 9

Content & stories

David Price, Editor, 514.935.4537, email: please type "editor", then the "at" sign, then this website's name without the "www"

Laureen Sweeney, Chief Reporter

Advertising sales

Arleen Candiotti, Advertising Consultant - 514.223.3567 - email: please type "advertising", then the "at" sign, then this website's name without the "www"

Accounting
514.223.6138 - email: please type "office", then the "at" sign, then this website's name without the "www"

City of Westmount

Westmount Public Library

Atwater Library

Westmount Historical Association

Centre Greene

Contactivity

 
Distribution:

The Westmount Independent is distributed by Canada Post in Westmount and at drop-offs around Westmount. 

Most reliable pick-up: 310 Victoria Bldg. lobby (Victoria Ave. and de Maisonneuve Blvd.) & distribution box on sidewalk in front

2nd most reliable pick-up: Metro grocery store (Victoria Ave. & Sherbrooke St.)

Also: Victoria Hall, Westmount city hall, Westmount Public Library, Atwater Library and at many ATMs, coffee shops, salons and waiting rooms. 

13,500+ physical copies DW, plus low-resolution email and web versions (12,000+ during possible postal strike - 9,000+ during actual postal strike) ● Distribution: Tuesday to Friday (longer when interrupted by postal holidays)

Letters for publication: We welcome your letters but reserve the right to choose and edit them. Please limit them to 300 words and submit before Friday 10 am to be considered for publication the following week. Please check your letter carefully as we may be unable to make subsequently submitted changes. Letter writers should not expect to be published in every issue, or in back-to-back issues, or repeatedly in the same season or on the same topic. Please include your name and street for publication (or borough or municipality if you do not live in Westmount), but not your address (unless you want it published).

Press time: Monday at 10:30 am (except before long weekends, Friday at 10:30 am)
The Westmount Independent is owned by Sherbrooke-Valois Inc. 310 Victoria Ave.,  #105, Westmount, QC, H3Z 2M9

Sherbrooke-Valois Inc. used to publish the Free Press and Vivva Montreal, and hosts the website of Price-Patterson Ltd.