Reed cancels BookExpo Canada and fall fair
Peter Scowen, February 2, 2009 - Globe and Mail.

Reed Exhibitions has cancelled BookExpo Canada, according to press release first publicized on Quillblog. The company has also cancelled the Toronto Book Fair, a consumer book fair in Toronto it announced less than a month ago.
Greg Topalian, a senior vice president at Reed Exhibitions, confirmed the cancellation of the fall fair.

UPDATE: Publishers Weekly, which is owned by Reed, had this to say.

The death of the BookExpo Canada, scheduled for June 19-22 in Toronto, comes after three of Canada's four major publishers said they were pulling out this year. Random House Canada was the first to leave, followed by Penguin Canada and HarperCollins Canada. Only Simon & Schuster Canada said it would take part in the trade show.

Reed was doubly rocked when it subsequently announced the new consumer fair for the fall and was again rebuffed by Random House and Penguin.

Today's release from Reed says its "focus on the publishing industry now centers on our event in New York and we look forward to serving the needs of our customers in North America most effectively with a singular event."
The New York event is BookExpo America. It takes place at the end of May.