The general manager of weekly newspapers for Brunswick News is denying it is responsible for the closure of the independent Carleton Free Press.

The final edition of the Carleton Free Press hit the streets on Tuesday in Woodstock, N.B., almost a year after the upstart newspaper's first edition rolled off the press. The Free Press editor blamed its rival — the Woodstock Bugle-Observer, which is a part of Irving-owned Brunswick News Inc. — saying it predatorily slashed its advertising rates.

General manager Kelly Madden said in an interview with CBC News on Tuesday that the Bugle-Observer's ad rates actually increased in the last year.

"We are offering a volume discount for buying longer-term packages, which is a normal, normal business [practice] like it is for radio or like it is for television," Madden said.

Madden is attributing the competitor's collapse to external market forces. For instance, he said the paper was being printed across the border in Houlton, Maine, so when the Canadian dollar dropped, it would have forced up the Free Press's costs.

The same financial pressures are exerting tremendous force on Brunswick News publications, but Madden said the difference is that many of the company's media holdings have been around long enough to know how to withstand economic troubles.

"Like any other business, we are very concerned with economic downturns," he said.

Conservative Leader David Alward, who is the Woodstock MLA, said he was disappointed to hear of the newspaper's closure. He repeated the opposition party's call for a Senate committee that investigated media concentration to return to New Brunswick.

Madden said he would not comment on Alward's statement but indicated the federal Competition Bureau did not investigate the media situation in Woodstock after being prompted by the Free Press. And the Brunswick News official said he doesn't see a problem with media concentration in the province.

"With Brunswick News, we have launched many newspapers in communities that wouldn't normally have newspapers. Do we have newspapers in many communities across the province? Absolutely," he said.

"In fact, many of the newspapers that we have actually started this year are French-product newspapers, and we have launched French-product newspapers where in fact there was no newspaper before."