While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Matthew Scace.
The organizations lobbying to keep Alberta in Canada ahead of a fall referendum vote are short on cash, tight on time and hamstrung in their ability to organize a concerted campaign for the federalist side. Public opinion polls consistently show that separatist voters are in the minority in Alberta – but they are also highly motivated. That means in the...
Ahead of the vote that could lay the groundwork for Alberta’s secession from Canada, the province’s elections agency says it is soliciting help from the rest of the country to make sure its Oct. 19 referendum runs smoothly. Elections Alberta is seeking experienced, skilled staff from its counterparts in other jurisdictions to support the agency during the massive undertaking, which...
Prime Minister Mark Carney ruled out restricting Canada’s energy supply to the U.S. as a bargaining chip in trade talks aimed at getting President Donald Trump to end his trade war on the country. Speaking to reporters in Red Deer, Alta., on Wednesday, Mr. Carney said “I don’t see the value” in putting energy, including Alberta’s oil, on the table...
A judge has temporarily frozen more than $8.5-million in assets belonging to Jeffrey Rath, a lawyer and prominent voice in Alberta’s separatist movement, and his legal firm after a First Nation alleged misappropriation of money that he was overseeing as the band’s trustee. Alberta Court of King’s Bench Justice Michael Marion issued the freezing order, known as a Mareva injunction...
The president of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party says he believes that a majority of UCP members will vote against remaining in Canada in a referendum this fall, despite Premier Danielle Smith’s campaign in favour of Confederation. Rob Smith, who heads the UCP’s board of directors, said the party will not pick a side in the lead-up to the separation...
The leader of the separatist organization accused of misusing Alberta’s list of electors by providing hundreds of supporters with access to private information belonging to 2.9 million residents is refusing to co-operate with investigators. David Parker, the political organizer behind the Centurion Project, is stonewalling Elections Alberta, according to a statement from the head of the agency. “I can confirm...
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney warned that while he believes the province’s secessionist movement isn’t likely to succeed, national unity could soon face a serious stress test if frustration with Ottawa drives more people to reject federalism. Onstage at The Globe and Mail’s Intersect 2026 conference in Toronto on Wednesday, Mr. Kenney described Quebec’s five-decade-long sovereignty debate as a “sterile...
Alberta separatists are making alternative plans to pressure Premier Danielle Smith’s government to call an independence referendum if a judge throws out their current efforts after a multiday hearing next week. Mitch Sylvestre is organizing an independence petition under Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act. Mr. Sylvestre’s campaign needs 178,000 signatures to force a constitutional referendum. Earlier this week, Mr. Sylvestre declared...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she won’t demonize the roughly one million Albertans who are open to separation after B.C. Premier David Eby said Alberta separatists who went to Washington in search of political support are engaged in treason.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed to her advisers when asked to explain how an Edmonton businessman whose contracts with the province’s health agency are now under scrutiny ended up in a hotel suite with her top lieutenants on the night of the 2023 provincial election. A Globe and Mail investigation published over the weekend examined the links between medical supply...
Alberta’s Official Opposition on Sunday said a Globe and Mail story documenting ties between Premier Danielle Smith’s government and an Edmonton businessman underscore the need for a public inquiry into the province’s health care procurement practices. New Democratic Party Leader Naheed Nenshi said The Globe’s investigation detailing links between executive Sam Mraiche and Ms. Smith’s government reveal “deep, deep, deep”...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith walked a thin line at this weekend’s annual United Conservative convention trying to appease the pro-independence grassroots base of her party while simultaneously touting a new energy deal with her frequent foes in Ottawa. While the she faced loud boos attempting to sell her energy accord with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday, and a combination...
CALGARY -- Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel closed out its cross-province tour on a tense note in Calgary on Monday night as the premier heard from residents with grievances directed at Ottawa and her own government.
CALGARY -- Premier Danielle Smith and her Alberta Next panel are set to wrap up their cross-province tour tonight in Calgary.
In Pincher Creek, wind is king, roaring down the eastern Rockies, delivering power for generations, so much so the municipal district made a windmill part of its corporate logo. Not anymore. District Reeve Rick Lemire said the windmill image, which sits alongside other Alberta icons on the logo -- a wild rose, wheat, a pumpjack and cattle -- will soon...
PINCHER CREEK -- In Pincher Creek, wind is king, roaring down the eastern Rockies, delivering power for generations, so much so the municipal district made a windmill part of its corporate logo.
AIRDRIE -- Premier Danielle Smith and her Alberta Next panel met another friendly audience at a packed town hall in Airdrie on Monday night, where the crowd cheered for separation and voted enthusiastically for the province's proposals for greater autonomy from Ottawa.
Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Airdrie tonight, as she marches through a final stretch of town halls surveying the public on the province's relationship with the federal government. It's the eighth of 10 in-person town halls scheduled for the panel, which has been travelling across Alberta since mid-July to address grievances Smith says are fostering separatist sentiment.
AIRDRIE -- Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Airdrie tonight, as she marches through a final stretch of town halls surveying the public on the province's relationship with the federal government.
LETHBRIDGE -- Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel faced a mostly supportive and inquisitive crowd at its latest stop Thursday night in Lethbridge as the group continues to take the public's temperature on the province's relationship with Ottawa.
LETHBRIDGE -- Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Lethbridge tonight as she continues to take the public's temperature on the province's relationship with Ottawa.
The bad news for Alberta's oil-reliant budget is set to get worse. Finance Minister Nate Horner says softening oil prices mean this year's projected budget deficit is expected to grow by $1.3 billion, and will now finish at $6.5 billion in the red when the fiscal year ends next spring. That represents a massive multibillion-dollar swing in Alberta's financial fortunes...
CALGARY -- The bad news for Alberta's oil-reliant budget is set to get worse.
CALGARY -- This year, municipal candidates in Calgary and Edmonton face a decision they've never had to make: whether to join a political party.
JASPER, ALTA. -- One year to the day a wind-whipped fire forced thousands to flee in the dark of night along one smoke-choked road, the mayor of Jasper acknowledged it was a moment of remembrance that some would much rather forget.
JASPER, ALTA. -- One year to the day a wind-whipped fire forced thousands to flee in the dark of night along one smoke-choked road, the mayor of Jasper acknowledged it was a day of remembrance that some would much rather forget.
After 45 years in their Jasper home, it took mere minutes for Wes Bradford's quaint mountain abode to burn to a pile of ash.
Canada's new prime minister, best known as a buttoned-down banker, donned a cowboy hat and toured the stables Friday evening at the Calgary Stampede. Over an hour-long tour winding through the rodeo grounds, Mark Carney crawled into a tank, snacked at food stations and posed for dozens of selfies, marking his first visit to the Stampede as prime minister.
CALGARY -- Canada's new prime minister, best known as a buttoned-down banker, donned a cowboy hat and toured the stables Friday evening at the Calgary Stampede.
CALGARY -- The first political pancakes have been flipped as party leaders from around Canada gather for the Calgary Stampede.
CALGARY -- Whether Alberta should withhold social services from some immigrants is among the issues Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is tabling for debate this summer when she travels the province to consult citizens on potential referendum questions.
Whether Alberta should withhold social services from immigrants is among the issues Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is tabling for debate this summer when she travels the province to consult citizens on potential referendum questions. The tour is part of what Smith has dubbed the "Alberta Next" panel. At a news conference Tuesday, she announced details of its work and named...
CALGARY -- Whether Alberta should withhold social services from immigrants is among the issues Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is tabling for debate this summer when she travels the province to consult citizens on potential referendum questions.
CALGARY -- Premier Danielle Smith says she'll be spending the summer touring the province with business leaders, backbenchers and an academic to find ways to protect Alberta from what she calls federal mistreatment and overreach.
BANFF -- Leaders of the G7 have agreed to co-operate on efforts to manage the impacts of devastating wildfires, which are surging for another summer across Canada.
BANFF -- In her hometown of Banff, Alta., Monica Dominguez's experience of the G7 leaders' summit has been defined by the sound of helicopter blades humming from above.
Premier and several cabinet ministers shouted down by attendees. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province's coal policy. About 500 people, many dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta....
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien says dignitaries attending next week's G7 leaders summit in Alberta should avoid engaging the "crazy" from U.S. President Donald Trump. Chrétien, speaking Thursday at a conference in Calgary, said leaders can't predict what Trump might do, the president can be a bully and it would be best if the rest of the G7 leaders ignored...
CALGARY -- Former prime minister Jean Chrétien says dignitaries attending the upcoming G7 leaders summit in Alberta should avoid engaging the "crazy" from U.S. President Donald Trump.
CALGARY -- For the next week, Derek Ryder will be temporarily divorced from his favourite mountain range and beloved trails in Kananaskis, Alta., so the world's most powerful people can safely gather for the G7 leaders summit.
CALGARY -- Old coal mines on the eastern slopes of the Alberta Rockies are leaching chemicals that are poisoning the fish downstream, says a new study by Alberta government scientists.
KANANASKIS -- Darren Robinson had some very important news to tell U.S. president George Bush and Jose Maria Aznar, the prime minister of Spain.
BANFF -- Top economic officials from the G7 are gathering for a full day of closed-door discussions in Banff, Alta., to examine pressing topics including the global economy and the war in Ukraine.
CALGARY -- The head of a group representing Calgary's business community says a referendum on separation would inflict grave damage on the economies of Alberta and Canada -- regardless of the result.
CALGARY -- Alberta's two big-city mayors say a separation referendum would be "devastating" to their local economies and is a needless distraction during a period in which the country should be focused on unity.
As separatist discontent bubbles up anew in Alberta, experts say a vote to sever ties with Canada would pitch the country into unexplored territory on everything from money to First Nations and national parks. "You're in terra incognita. You're off the map when we get to that stage of the proceedings," said law professor Eric Adams. "A lot of things...