The Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA) is a non-profit organization, representing Canadian daily newspapers (English and French) with circulations ranging from 1,500 to almost 500,000 per day.

The Canadian Newspaper Association was founded on July 9, 1996, following a decision to wind down operations of the Canadian Daily Newspaper Association and the Newspaper Marketing Bureau and create a new and revitalized association. On that date, a Board of Governors met for the first time to approve bylaws and a budget as worked out by a Board of Directors on June 26, 1996.

The CNA was born out of an industry-wide examination of the roles of both the CDNA and the NMB and the expectations of Canada's newspaper groups and their newspapers.

The objective of the association is to combine the experience, expertise and dedication of its members to ensure the continuance of a free press able to serve its readers effectively.

To carry out its mission, the Canadian Newspaper Association's primary role is to represent the needs of its members and the public in the areas of public policy, marketing and member services. These areas permit the CNA to act on behalf of the industry in a proactive manner for the benefit of newspaper groups and independents alike, to raise awareness of the benefits of newspapers to advertisers and readers and to monitor and analyse legislation potentially harmful to newspapers and freedom of the press.

Brief History of the CDNA and the NMB

The CDNA was founded in 1919 when three distinct groups within the then-62-year-old Canadian Press Association decided to form their own associations in what was seen as a "restructuring" of the CPA.

CDNA was one of them. The others were the Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association and the now-defunct Canadian National Newspapers and Periodicals Association (later the Periodical Press Association). Each said it would be better served if it formed its own association.

The original name of the association was the Canadian Daily Newspapers Association. In 1954, it became the Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association (CDNPA) until a name change again in 1990 when "Publishers" was dropped. It was renamed the Canadian Daily Newspaper Association.

The Newspaper Marketing Bureau was founded in 1972 to help promote the value of daily newspapers to national advertisers. It was mostly funded by large market newspapers.