[1] Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the Winnipeg Free Press.
In 1919, the paper's publishers bought the Ottawa Free Press, whose former owner, E. Norman Smith, then became editor with Grattan O'Leary.
By then, the Journal, whose readers tended to come from rural areas, was trailing the Ottawa Citizen, its main competitor.
[citation needed] In 1980, it was bought by Thomson Newspapers and was closed on 27 August 1980.
Charges were brought against both Southam and Thomson in April 1981 under the now-defunct Combines Investigation Act that alleged a breach of section 33 by merger or monopolistic conduct, but they were dismissed on 9 December 1983.