The Globe and Mail is a Canadian national newspaper, based in Toronto. It is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper on overall weekly circulation and largest by average daily circulation nationwide.

A national survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid in 2006 found that the Globe and Mail was Canada's most widely read newspaper, on many measures of readership, including frequency of reading, level of engagement with the printed product online, and as a news source for political information. The print edition is distributed throughout Canada, with an average circulation of 245,952 copies daily in 2011.

The newspaper is owned by The Woodbridge Company, a holding company for the Thomson family; it was previously controlled by Conrad Black. In 2010, the paper was acquired by Postmedia Network Inc., which holds 50.7% of voting shares of CTVglobemedia (the owner of "The Globe and Mail"s the main rival in Canada's English-language market, the "National Post"). The "Globe and Mail" has consistently been Canada's newspaper of record since being purchased by George Brown in 1844.

The "Globe and Mail" originated as the "Canadian Advertiser", founded in 1844 by Scottish immigrant George Brown, who became a Father of Confederation. It was first printed in Toronto (then known as York) on September 3, 1844. At the time, it was a weekly paper with a circulation of 4,500 copies. Brown's editorial policy was to have the newspaper report on matters of interest to Upper Canada landed gentry, and there was a strong focus on British and Loyalist affairs.

By 1849, "The Globe" began printing daily editions in Toronto. It became a daily newspaper in 1853. The "Globe" was originally published as a broadsheet but switched to a compact format (or tabloid) in 1980.

On August 22, 2000, the "Globe" was relaunched as a national newspaper in two sections: The "International" section covered international news, while the "National" section covered Canadian news. Its editorial offices remained in Toronto and the paper continued to be published Monday to Saturday.

The newspaper was purchased by Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. in 2000, for a reported $110 million. At the time of purchase, circulation was 170,000 copies per week; by 2005 it had declined to 60,000 per day.