As Canwest readies to find a new owner for its newspaper publishing division, readership remains strong for three of its major dailies according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ (ABC) latest Fas-Fax report, released today.

The National Post made the biggest gain, increasing year-over-year average weekday circ for the first quarter of 2010 by 10.15% (to an average daily readership of 175,238). Out west, the Calgary Herald and the Vancouver Sun also increased circulation by 2.51% (136,465) and 2.39% (182,043), respectively.

Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, decreased slightly in average paid weekday circ, dropping .82% (299,929). Montreal’s La Presse also saw a minor loss of 1.04% (206,277).

It was a similar, flat story for the Montreal Gazette, which decreased by 1.82% (173,750) for its Monday to Friday distribution, as well as the Vancouver Province with a minor drop of .65% (163,833). In Ontario, the Ottawa Citizen hovered around the same circ as last year, dropping by 1.68% (129,825).

It wasn’t all good news for Canwest, though, as the Edmonton Journal saw one of the biggest losses of ABC’s daily newspaper members, dropping 11% (111,775). The biggest overall loss in readership was seen by the Quebecor-owned Grand Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune, which lost 13.44% of its weekday readers (5,631).