TORONTO - The New York Times plans to expand to Canada.

Danielle Rhoades Ha, the company's vice-president of communications, said in an email Tuesday that the paper is actively assessing how to further extend its reach to readers in Canada and Australia in the coming months.

Rhoades Ha said the company has deployed people to both countries to recruit journalists and lay the groundwork for local newsrooms.

She said the company is not discussing further details at the moment. The Times already has a Canadian correspondent, Ian Austen.

In February, the New York Times launched its digital Spanish-language publication, The New York Times en Espanol, with a team of journalists based in Mexico City.

The New York Times announcement follows news from the BBC earlier this summer that it will open a news bureau in Toronto and launch a Canadian edition of its site.