Kick Off For The Un Métro Qui Nous Est Propre Awareness Campaign

Montreal, March 9, 2005 – With Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay, Claude Dauphin, chairman of the board of the Montreal Transport Commission, and Alain Lemaire, president and CEO of Cascades Inc. in attendance, André Préfontaine, president of Transcontinental Media, and Stéphane Gagné, publisher of the daily newspaper Métro, kicked off the recycling awareness campaign Un métro qui nous est propre this afternoon. At a press conference in the McGill metro station, the highlights of this ambitious project were outlined. The high point will be the installation of some 200 paper recycling bins, each with a 97-litre capacity, throughout the Montreal subway system.

The Un métro qui nous est propre campaign, which will require an investment of more than $2.5 million over six years, will receive financial support from Cascades Inc. More than 400 tonnes of paper a year, or about eight tonnes a week, will be recycled. Note that the paper on which the daily Métro is printed is composed of approximately 40% recycled fibres.

“Our main objective is to improve the cleanliness of the metro in a responsible and sustainable manner,” explained Stéphane Gagné, publisher of Métro. “In addition to protecting the environment, those who use the recycling bins will be contributing to the literacy organization Fondation pour l’alphabétisation. In fact, Métro will donate 20% of its annual revenue from the sale of the recycled paper to that foundation. This represents over $5,000 for this organization dedicated to eliminating illiteracy, a problem which of course particularly interests us as publisher of a free newspaper.”

André Préfontaine, president of Transcontinental Media, praised the efforts of the teams at Métro and the Société de transport de Montréal: “Our company and our partners in this project are acting responsibly and contributing in a major way to protecting the environment. This is an important step in the development of the daily Métro, which has been a great success with advertisers and the approximately 517,000 readers it reaches every week.”

Claude Dauphin, chairman of the Montreal Transport Commission, pointed out that the Métro daily newspaper is an added value for the 325,000 people who use the subway system every day. “I am convinced that over the next few months the communication and awareness campaign will encourage riders to put their paper into the recycling bins,” he stated. “Reminders will appear on the bins themselves and in the Métro to remind people, and an awareness crew will be at work in the more crowded stations to motivate people to recycle.”

Alain Lemaire, president and CEO of Cascades Inc., stated that recycling 400 tonnes of newsprint a year will save some 6,800 trees. He added that “this project is an important one for Cascades, since it increases our volume of used paper, the raw material used in manufacturing recycled paper and cardboard. As well, we believe that the new recycling bins in the metro will increase the population’s awareness of the importance of recycling.”

Finally, Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay praised the initiative and believes that all the conditions are right to make this campaign a huge success. “I strongly believe in the slogan of this awareness campaign, Un métro qui nous est propre. Cleanliness is one of this administration’s priorities, but the City cannot assume this responsibility alone; it is also incumbent on our citizens. I’ve said before that if only half our two million residents picked up one piece of paper off the ground, the city would be transformed.”

To end the press conference, Robert Lemieux, Recyc-Québec’s president and general manager, and Sophie Labrecque, president and general manager of the Fondation pour l’alphabétisation, joined Mr. Tremblay and Mr. Gagné in showcasing two types of recycling bins.

The free daily Métro is owned by Publications Métropolitaines inc., a partnership that includes Transcontinental Media Inc., Metro International S.A. and Gesca Ltd.

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For Information:
Guillaume Picard
Public Relations Department
Transcontinental Inc.
(514) 954-4000
guillaume.picard@transcontinental.ca

Jessie-Kim Malo
AGC Communications
(514) 849-7000, ext. 221
jkm@agccom.com