Western Living and Vancouver acquired by Canada Wide Media

Two of western Canada's largest and most successful magazines  -- Vancouver magazine and Western Living -- have been acquired by Canada Wide Media. (Canada Wide publishes, among other things, BCBusiness, TV Week and the digital lifestyle title BCLiving.)

“These are two of the most prestigious magazines in Western Canada, and we are thrilled to add these exemplary brands to our portfolio,” said Peter Legge, chair and CEO of Canada Wide in a story on BCBusiness. “The addition of these titles to our stable of magazines gives us the largest reach in all of the West.”

With an annual readership of 314,000, Vancouver has been the city’s preeminent publication for more than 50 years. Western Living, which has an annual readership of 287,000, focuses on home design and décor, food and wine, and travel.  

The Legge family has owned Canada Wide for more than 40 years, establishing it as Western Canada’s largest independent media company.

CEO Peter Legge and president Samantha Legge

This transaction brings to an end the relatively shortlived ownership of the two magazines by Yellow Pages Homes Ltd. The two magazines had been left somewhat adrift when TC Media sold its eastern consumer magazines to Quebecor's TVA Group. They were picked up by Yellow Pages in May 2015 with the goal of augmenting the lifestyle strengths in the marketplace.

Yellow Pages is the official directories publisher of Bell Canada, Telus, Bell Aliant, MTS Allstream and a number of other companies. It describes itself as the leading digital company in Canada and owns and manages a slew of trademarked  online directories:  YellowPages.ca,  PagesJaunes.ca, Canada411.ca, and RedFlagDeals.com  as well as CanadaPlus.ca  and a network of seven local city sites, including MontrealPlus.ca, QuebecPlus.ca,  TorontoPlus.ca,  CalgaryPlus.ca,  EdmontonPlus.ca,  OttawaPlus.ca and  VancouverPlus.ca.