The Telegram strongly supported Canada's connection with the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Empire[1] as late as the 1960s.

He had borrowed CA$10,000 to buy the assets of The Liberal, a defunct newspaper,[2] and published his first edition of 3,800 copies on April 18, 1876.

Following the death of Robertson's widow in 1947, the paper was bought by George McCullagh, the publisher of The Globe and Mail, for CA$3.6 million.

McCullagh died in 1952, and the paper was then purchased by John W. H. Bassett for CA$4.25 million[2] with money borrowed from the Eaton family.

At the same time, Telegram Corporation acquired a majority interest in Toronto TV station CFTO-TV.

The Telegram lost CA$635,000 in 1969 and $921,000 in 1970 and was on pace to lose another $900,000 in 1971 when it was shut down that year by Bassett on October 30,[6] just as a strike was looming.