Matt Hartley Bio

Matt Hartley is a Toronto-based writer and journalist best known for his work with the National Post newspaper where he writes about technology and the Internet for the Financial Post.

After joining the Post in 2009, Hartley founded the FP Tech Desk section — now one of the top technology news sites in Canada — and the Post Arcade video game site.

Among the more interesting things to happen to him over the course of his career, celebrated Canadian author Margaret Atwood corrected his grammar in front of a live audience, he interviewed former Prime Minister Jean Chretien about the Calgary Flames and he once scored a goal on a pass from former Toronto Maple Leafs winger Jeff O’Neill.

He’s one of the lucky few to have visited George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in California and he enjoyed a brief moment in the spotlight after running an unsuccessful Facebook campaign to get William Shatner appointed Governor General of Canada.

His writing career began at the Queen’s Journal student newspaper at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Hartley also holds a Master’s of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa.

Before joining the National Post, he was the technology reporter for The Globe and Mail, and spent summers working for the Edmonton Journal, Kingston Whig-Standard and Victoria Times-Colonist. His stories have appeared in more than a dozen newspapers and in several technology magazines.

Hartley makes regular appearances on radio and television programs, and has been a featured guest on CBC’s Mansbridge One on One, CTV News Channel, TVO’s The Agenda and National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States.

He is the creator of The Hartley’s Game Drive for Kids through the National Post, which collects new and used video games and consoles, which are distributed to children’s hospitals across Canada. Over the past five years, the drive has collected more than 5,500 games and more than 120 consoles for more than a dozen Canadian hospitals.

An avid fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, Indianapolis Colts and Toronto Maple Leafs, when he’s not writing, Hartley can be found at home with his wife — lovingly referred to in these pages as The Mrs Hartley — and their two cats, Moseby and Herbie.

You can follow him on Twitter at @thehartley