Canada's La Presse paper threatens to close -report

TORONTO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Montreal's La Presse daily newspaper, the biggest French-language broadsheet in North America, is threatening to cease publication on Dec. 1, the Canadian Press reported on Thursday.

A newspaper spokeswoman told the news agency in an interview that staff were informed Thursday that management and the union have three months to reach an agreement on cutting costs.

La Presse is owned by a subsidiary of Canadian financial services conglomerate Power Corp (POW.TO). It has won acclaim in the past for its coverage of national and international issues.

CP cited Caroline Jamet, vice-president of communications for the paper, as saying that employees will need to contribute to cost-cutting or risk the end of the print edition of the 125-year-old paper.

Canada's newspaper industry has struggled to cope with the downturn in the advertising market brought on by the recession. Many have cut jobs and sought other ways to cut their costs.

In March, Quebecor Inc (QBRa.TO)(QBRb.TO) announced it would pull its stable of newspapers out of CP, which operates as a news co-operative, in a bid to cut costs.

The move came just months after Quebecor announced 600 job cuts at the Sun Media newspaper unit.

Also late last year, Canwest Global Communications CGS.TO, Canada's biggest media company, said it would cut 350 jobs at its newspaper publishing division.

Torstar Corp (TSb.TO), which publishes the Toronto Star daily newspaper, said early this year that it has taken steps to cut its workforce by about 500 and that layoffs would continue into 2009.

(Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; editing by Frank McGurty)