[1] The publication described itself as “the official organ of the Patrons of Industry of Ontario and Quebec.” In May 1894, the paper moved to offices in the Evening Star building in Toronto.
It was aimed at urban readers, and concentrated on the injustice of industrial capitalism, supporting causes such as the single tax, the eight-hour day and equal suffrage, and opposing militarism.
Where Wrigley had used the paper to try to promote an alliance between farmers and labour, Smith aimed to turn the newspaper into "the voice of rural Ontario."
He ceased publication of a supplement, The Brotherhood Era, aimed at industrial workers and expanded the Sun to a ten-page publication with the slogan “An Independent Journal For Farm and Home.” The newspaper, now called The Weekly Sun, supported agrarianism and free trade and acted as the organ of the Farmers Association of Ontario until that organization dissolved in 1907.
Around this time, Agnes Macphail began contributing writing to the Sun, including reminiscences about life in rural Ontario.
[2] With the fragmentation of the UFO in 1922, during a crisis of the UFO-led provincial government in Ontario under Ernest C. Drury, circulation fell grew more conservative.