A new deal between Postmedia Network Inc and Torstar Corp . will see some papers swapped and several shut down.

The deal will see Torstar acquire 15 community newspapers and two free commuter daily newspapers.

Postmedia will get 22 weekly community newspapers along with the free daily publications Metro Ottawa and Metro Winnipeg.

Of the community papers, Postmedia says they plan on closing all but two by mid-January.

Locally this includes:

  • Metro Ottawa
  • Orleans News
  • Ottawa East News
  • Ottawa South News
  • Ottawa West News
  • Kanata Kourier-Standard
  • Nepean/Barrhaven News
  • West Carleton Review
  • Stittsville News

The deal will see at least 244 people lose their jobs at papers across the board.

In a statement released on Monday morning, Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey called the business a 'deeply disrupted industry.' But he touched on the loss of jobs as well.

"What makes this particularly difficult is that it means we will say goodbye to many dedicated newspaper people. However, the continuing costs of producing dozens of small community newspapers in these regions in the face of significantly declining advertising revenues means that most of these operations no longer have viable business models," said Mr. Godfrey.

There was plenty of local reaction to the news on Twitter Monday afternoon from local leaders.