Matthew Black
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matthewblack.ca
Matthew Black
@matthewblack.ca
660 followers 100 following 53 posts
📰 Postmedia Alberta legislature reporter (Edmonton Journal/Sun) | Works with 📊 data & 📃 documents | 🎓 UBC & UAlberta (2x) | Profile pic by my 3 y/o daughter
MatthewBlack.ca
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Reposted by Matthew Black
edmontonjournal.com
Edmonton Election 2025 live updates: Voters head to the polls
Edmonton Election 2025 live updates: Voters head to the polls
Edmonton Election 2025 live updates: Voters head to the polls
bit.ly
October 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
jonnywakefield.bsky.social
Alberta separatist lawyer reprimanded for second time in four months @matthewblack.ca edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
Alberta separatist lawyer reprimanded for second time in four months
Jeffrey Rath represents the Alberta Prosperity Project and was reprimanded on Friday for his role in a near-decade old legal case.
edmontonjournal.com
October 10, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
edmontonjournal.com
Alberta must make upgrades to its restaurant inspection system to improve transparency for diners and impose stricter enforcement on bad eateries
Keith Gerein: Alberta's malnourished restaurant inspection system has become indigestible
Alberta must make upgrades to its restaurant inspection system to improve transparency for diners and impose stricter enforcement on bad eateries
bit.ly
October 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
matthewblack.ca
3rd and final part of the Journal & MacEwan U's food venue inspection series is out this morning.

Top Edmonton chefs back calls to reform Alberta's food inspection system

“It’s not about shutting down businesses. It’s about bringing everyone up to one level and one standard"

#yeg
Top Edmonton chefs back calls to reform Alberta's food inspection system
Chefs from Brave, Dolly, Fox and more explain how they keep their restaurants safe, and call for changes to Alberta inspection process
edmontonjournal.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
matthewblack.ca
Part 2 of the @edmontonjournal.com collaboration with MacEwan U re: food safety inspections is up!

Our team talked with dozens of restaurant workers who painted an ugly picture of kitchen standards with one saying, "We’re told it’s a financial issue to improve health and safety"

#yeg
'We can certainly make people sick': Edmonton restaurant workers sound alarm on food safety risks
Edmonton restaurant workers sound the alarm on unsafe food handling practices, insufficient training and how the system is failing diners
edmontonjournal.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
jack-farrell.bsky.social
Alberta education minister concerned about private school funding petition

From me today:
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/prairies_bc/...
Alberta education minister concerned about private school funding petition
EDMONTON - Alberta's education minister says cutting government funding to private schools — a move one Calgary teacher is hoping to put to a vote — would only escalate the
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca
October 8, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
charlesrusnell.bsky.social
Thanks @matthewblack.ca but the investigation was the idea of, and was led by, Karen Kleiss. It was Karen's idea to create a searchable public database, which resulted in the auditor general telling the province they should to. Karen Unland edited the project.
matthewblack.ca Matthew Black @matthewblack.ca · Oct 8
And these are all built on an investigation led by @charlesrusnell.bsky.social nearly two decades ago which prompted the results of food service venue inspections to be made public
www.pressreader.com/canada/edmon...
#yeg
October 8, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
davebreakenridge.bsky.social
This work was done through @lillebuen.bsky.social's investigative journalism class, with key contributions from the Journal's @keithgerein.bsky.social and @matthewblack.ca. Big thanks to @njgriffiths.bsky.social for his help with the data journalism side of things.
October 8, 2025 at 3:58 PM
matthewblack.ca
Since Jan, I've been part of a team inc EJ colleagues, @lillebuen.bsky.social & his MacEwan U j-students working on a series re: how food service venues are inspected in AB
We uncovered shocking findings re: the state of the system, inspection frequency, & recurring violations.
Part 1 out today
#yeg
Crawling bugs and half-baked enforcement: Alberta’s restaurant inspections a recipe for foodborne illness — Investigation
Lax inspections, excessive violations and poor transparency in Alberta's restaurant inspection system is a recipe for foodborne Illness
edmontonjournal.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
trevorrobb.bsky.social
According to the data obtained and analyzed during this @edmontonjournal.com / @macewanu.bsky.social investigation, more than 250 food establishments across Edmonton went at least two years without seeing an inspector. #yeg

edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...
Crawling bugs and half-baked enforcement: Alberta’s restaurant inspections a recipe for foodborne illness — Investigation
Lax inspections, excessive violations and poor transparency in Alberta's restaurant inspection system is a recipe for foodborne Illness
edmontonjournal.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:38 PM
matthewblack.ca
The info and privacy commish has opened 3 reviews into if the province followed ATI rules in withholding from me the early results of Alberta Next surveys

OIPC involvement led GOA to release pension survey data to me, 21 months after I first asked
edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
#ableg #abpoli
Three reviews underway after province refuses to release early Alberta Next survey results
The provincial government refused Postmedia access to hundreds of pages of records containing early results to Alberta Next survey questions
edmontonjournal.com
September 6, 2025 at 2:16 PM
matthewblack.ca
Athana Mentzelopoulos lawsuit update
GOA:
*Claims her recording of AHS board members & LaGrange was illegal & she has 200K pages of records she shouldn't
Athana:
*Recording was to protect AHS, its whistleblowers, the AHS Board & various politicians
edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
#ableg #abpoli
Alberta lawyers claim Mentzelopoulos may have illegally recorded meetings
Government lawyers say the former AHS CEO recorded meetings with ministers and the AHS board but her lawyers dispute doing so was illegal.
edmontonjournal.com
August 20, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
edmontonjournal.com
Opinion: Will the availability of COVID-19 vaccines be more than an exercise in luck for those who can and cannot pay? Why are physicians not allowed discretion when it comes to immunizations? Where have all the COVID-19 vaccines gone?

edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...
Opinion: Where have all Alberta's COVID vaccines gone?
I have discovered that for now, even when you can pay, you are out of luck.
edmontonjournal.com
August 20, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
trevorrobb.bsky.social
"Those two recommendations centre around the province’s practice of limiting the number of topics in an access to information request, and splitting requests with multiple topics into several new requests at the cost of more fees." #abpoli #ableg

edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
Information and privacy commissioner says Alberta rejected two of her recommendations
Diane McLeod says she could investigate if the province continues to ignore two recommendations regarding access to information requests
edmontonjournal.com
August 16, 2025 at 1:38 PM
matthewblack.ca
"The other excuse Alberta Finance gave was that the new rules would 'bring Alberta’s policies into alignment with other provinces.’ It’s the equivalent of 'But, mom, everybody else is doing it'"

Gunter: UCP receipt policy a blow to government transparency
edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...
#ableg
Lorne Gunter: UCP receipt policy a blow to government transparency
Earlier this month, the province removed the requirement that receipts be posted for expenses, even the big ones.
edmontonjournal.com
August 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
charlesrusnell.bsky.social
My latest for @thetyee. Former police commission chair enaged in online bullying, harassment campaign against city councillors.

'Unleashing': Politicians Say Ex-Police Watchdog's Insults Go Too Far via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
‘Unleashing’: Politicians Say Ex-Police Watchdog’s Insults Go Too Far | The Tyee
‘I was getting scared,’ says one Edmonton councillor assailed online by John McDougall.
thetyee.ca
August 11, 2025 at 1:15 PM
matthewblack.ca
From @keithgerein.bsky.social :
With 75 days to go (now 74), Edmonton mayoral race missing a front-runner
Jaffer? Cartmell? Knack? Walters? Someone else? The mayor's race is still wide open
edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...
#yeg
Keith Gerein: With 75 days to go, Edmonton mayoral race missing a front-runner
Jaffer? Cartmell? Knack? Walters? Someone else? The mayor's race in Edmonton has yet to coalesce around a front-runner.
edmontonjournal.com
August 8, 2025 at 1:24 PM
matthewblack.ca
I was curious about the early results of some of the Alberta Next surveys so I filed a few access to info requests in June, and you're not going to believe this but...

edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
#ableg #abpoli
Province refuses to release early results of its Alberta Next surveys
Postmedia sought early replies to surveys around an Alberta pension plan and immigration but the province has refused to release the results
edmontonjournal.com
August 7, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
trevorrobb.bsky.social
Latest from @matthewblack.ca — The Law Society of Alberta has reprimanded one of the leaders of the Albert separatist movement after finding he twice broke professional standards. #ableg #abpoli

edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
Alberta separatist lawyer reprimanded, ordered to pay $10K in costs
The Alberta Law Society found Jeffrey Rath had twice violated professional standards and ordered him to pay $10,000 in costs.
edmontonjournal.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:55 PM
matthewblack.ca
"We need all Albertans to put their pride and love of Canada into writing now and put their signature on a petition," campaign leader Thomas Lukaszuk said after Elections Alberta issued a petition for his "Alberta Forever Canada" initiative
edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
#ableg #abpoli
Elections Alberta approves petition seeking referendum on Alberta remaining in Canada
The petition begins the 90-day signature collection period which requires 293,976 signatures to be submitted to Elections Alberta by Oct. 28
edmontonjournal.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
COLUMN UPDATED AGAIN: Elections officer won't back down. Says he's just doing his job by going to court, after Smith alleges he's violating democracy by asking for ruling on separatist question. calgaryherald.com/news/braid-s... #ableg #abpoli #AlbertaSeparation #cdnpoli #yyc #yeg
Braid: Premier Smith says Elections Alberta should not send separatist question to court
Alberta Braid: Separatism debate heats up as referendum question goes to court. Pro-Canada question rolls on.
calgaryherald.com
July 29, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
UPDATED COLUMN: Smith lands a bombshell on electoral office referring a separatist referendum question to court. She says that's a violation of democracy.
calgaryherald.com/news/braid-s... #ableg #abpoli #AlbertaSeparation #cdnpoli #yyc #yeg
Braid: Premier Smith says Elections Alberta should not send separatist question to court
Alberta Braid: Separatism debate heats up as referendum question goes to court. Pro-Canada question rolls on.
calgaryherald.com
July 29, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Matthew Black
davebreakenridge.bsky.social
Fun read by @matthewblack.ca 'Gizmo', 'Satan,' and 'McLovin' — How RCAF pilots at CFB Cold Lake get their call signs. edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n... via @edmontonjournal.com
'Gizmo', 'Satan,' and 'McLovin': Inside the changing world of pilot call signs at CFB Cold Lake
The pilot monikers were once permanent, but criticism of past call signs, and how they were chosen, has led to changes.
edmontonjournal.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:57 PM
matthewblack.ca
Ex-UCP MLA Peter Guthrie says his efforts to revive the PC Party are now focused on a collaboration with and rebrand of the Alberta Party.
"It made a lot of sense to us," he said, also citing a possible spring election & legal threat from UCP
edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...
#ableg #abpoli
edmontonjournal.com
July 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
matthewblack.ca
In Jan, I reported a majority of responses (~57%) to the govt's survey wanted the old RAM site saved.
Then, govt told me those results didn't change its plan to demolish the building.
Today, it's opening a new call for pitches to develop the site.
edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...
#ableg #abpoli
'Final opportunity': Province reverses course, opens new call for RAM site development pitches
The province is opening a new call for pitches to develop the cites after negative public feedback to its plan to demolish the building.
edmontonjournal.com
July 18, 2025 at 5:30 PM