Canadian newspapers this week achieved an historic level of cooperation, unthinkable a decade ago. Their Ink and Beyond annual conference in Toronto for the first time included an “audience development super session” combining the forces of the Canadian (daily) Newspaper, Community Newspaper and Circulation Management Associations, plus the Ontario Community Newspapers Association. That’s a tribute to some restratined egos — and perhaps an overdue recognition of the state of the industry. Kudos to the organizers.

Some notes and quotes from the two-day conference (contact us if you’d like elaboration):

John Paton, new CEO of Journal Register, kicked off with (an unfortunately technology-handicapped) presentation called Transforming to a Multiplatform Business. Readers will likely be familiar with his revolutionary moves, but you can read Toronto Star coverage here — or better yet, follow John’s blog. Favorite quote, in response to an audience question asking how staff are reacting to becoming multi-media reporters: “Ninety days into it, most reporters are trying to jump out the window. And hoping to land on me.”

Jim Moroney, CEO Dallas Morning News, challenged newspapers to have faith in their product and their audience. The News has raised its subscription rates 40 per cent, which cut circulation by 12 per cent — dramatically increasing revenue while slashing expenses…and delivering advertisers a better quality demographic.

Our own Shannon Kinney delivered an (ahem) excellent presentation on reinventing the classified department, products and pricing.

As part of a panel on building community, Marlon Rodrigues of Toronto’s Polar Mobile — which powers apps for a panoply of heavyweight media companies, from CBS to Time and publishers in Canada, the U.K. and Asia — revealed that while they deliver far more downloads via iPhone, they receive far more traffic via BlackBerry. (Perhaps because BB users have their employers paying for data usage?) And that more than half of their mobile users did not previously “touch” the respective media brands online.

In a panel session on financial strategies, Deloitte analyst Duncan Stewart said advertisers now use a variation on the old quote (note to Duncan: it was John Wanamaker): “I know that 90 per cent of my traditional advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which 90 per cent.” And further that spending $100,000 in newspapers equals $10,000 on Google. Ouch. But he also predicted that in a few years increased mobile data usage, especially video, will congest networks to the point that there will be “perpetual scarcity”, giving renewed value to fast-downloading text, so “may be the savior of the newspaper industry.” And Queen’s University professor Ken Wong was shocked to learn that members of his school’s Dean’s List access Facebook 18 times a day. To which a student replied, “how often do you go on your Blackberry? Then shut up.”

Canadian auto research guru Dennis DesRosiers presented an in-depth look at the market, pointing out striking differences from the U.S. (E.g. “large / luxury cars” are eight per cent of the market up north, compared to 25 per cent down south. To which an American attendee commented, “maybe that’s why our economy got into so much trouble.”) Partnering with Saatchi & Saatchi Canada CEO Stuart Payne, he offered 10 ideas for the newspaper industry, led off by “rebuild your used cars classified section…but we don’t know how”. (Hint: contact AIM Group for advice.)

At the AbitibiBowater luncheon, honoring two outstanding young Canadian journalists, vaunted pollster Angus Reid noted that he was speaking “without an appearance fee” in appreciation of his 40-year relationship with the newspaper industry, and enthused about his newish company, Vision Critical, and its $70-million worldwide online survey business. And took a gratuitous shot at the work of NADBank, the Canadian research cooperative funded by newspapers, agencies and advertisers. One audience member wanted to know how Reid’s online panels can avoid self-selection bias, but his methods are apparently too proprietary and mysterious to share.