"Xtra Ottawa" was launched by Pink Triangle Press as "Capital Xtra" in 1993, shortly after the organization learned that Ottawa's existing LGBT publication, "GO Info", had largely collapsed and was publishing irregularly with only a skeleton staff. Brandon Matheson, then a freelance journalist working in the Parliament Hill Press Gallery, was chosen to launch the project in conjunction with George Hartsgrove, then an administrator at the University of Ottawa. "GO Info" briefly tried to beef up its content in the face of its new competition, but folded in early 1994.