Largest privacy breach of personal information in Alberta’s history
Separatist Centurion Project somehow got access to the 2.9 million names on the official voters list and uploaded it to a public, searchable database
It has been a while since my phone buzzed with so many questions from political contacts and non-political friends than it did this past weekend.
“Did the voters list get leaked!?” “What does it mean?” “Who has my personal contact information"?” “Did the separatists cheat?” “Does this mean Trump and the Russians have the Alberta voters list?” “How did this happen?” “What’s going to happen now?”
Those are all legitimate questions that will be asked again and again as we start learn more about how a separatist group calling itself the Centurion Project got access to Elections Alberta’s official voters list and uploaded the full names, home addresses and phone numbers of 2.9 million Alberta voters to a public, searchable database. The group is led by well-known right-wing organizer David Parker of Take Back Alberta fame.
Though it remains unclear how exactly Parker’s group got the list, Elections Alberta identified the voters list as one that was provided to the separatist Republican Party last year. The Republican Party is led by well-known right-wing political organizer Cameron Davies of Kamikaze campaign fame.
The official voters list is provided to registered political parties recognized by Elections Alberta but not to third party political groups like the Centurion Project.
The scoop for this story goes to Jeremy Appel of The Orchard who was at the separatist gathering in Edmonton when an Elections Alberta investigator showed up flanked by police to follow up on a cease and desist order already issued to the separatist group.
The next big scoop came from Jen Gerson, who wrote on Line Editor that Elections Alberta had reasonable grounds to know that separatists had access to the province’s voter file at least a month ago — because she had notified them about it a month ago!
What followed would have been a comedy of errors if it wasn’t the largest privacy breach of Albertans personal information in the province’s history.
Information and privacy commissioner Diane McLeod was quick to call for political parties to be included under Alberta’s Personal Information and Privacy Act, a law they are currently exempt from.
A series of press statements from Elections Alberta was capped on Friday afternoon by a meandering 21-paragraph statement from Chief Elections Officer Gordon McClure that did not instill confidence. Elections Alberta blames changes made by the United Conservative Party government’s Bill 54 — changes McClure warned about — for not being able to investigate the allegations of the voter list data breach. But the 1,200 word statement leaves the deeply troubling impression that Elections Alberta is woefully outgunned and under resourced to deal with the challenges ahead.
Premier Danielle Smith, posting on social media from somewhere in Europe, said this was something we should all be concerned about and that those who leaked the voters list should be held accountable. Smith’s statement didn’t meet the moment and will almost certainly be followed with attempts to deflect blame towards Elections Alberta’s response to the privacy breach.
NDP leader Naheed Nenshi described the privacy breach as dangerous and called for McClure to to testify before an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices.
And the RCMP are investigating.
Jeff Rath, one of the spokespeople for the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project and Stay Free Alberta, the group collecting signatures to force an Alberta separation referendum on October 19, 2026, took to social media to deny his organization’s affiliation with Parker and the Centurion Project.
While the organizations might not be officially connected, it was hard to read Rath’s comments without letting out a loud guffaw.
The personalities behind Alberta’s bustling cottage industry of separatist and right-wing political groups are so deeply intertwined that it sometimes feels like it’s just a rotating cast of a dozen or so characters. Separation petition leader Mitch Sylvestre, for example, was a regional organizing captain for Parker’s Take Back Alberta group before jumping over to the Alberta Prosperity Project.
We will have a lot more questions than answers about this unfolding story and what it means for Albertans’ privacy this week, but the five questions that immediately popped into my mind over the last few days are:
How did David Parker’s Centurion Project group get a copy of the official voters list?
Do any other separatist organizers who have been actively collecting signatures or promoting the Stay Free Alberta citizen initiative have access to the list?
How many copies of the voters list provided to the Republican Party are floating around out there now and who has them?
Will Premier Smith call a public inquiry to investigate this information breach and Elections Alberta’s response?
Given the seriousness of this privacy breach, will Smith delay the UCP government’s referendums scheduled for October 19, 2026?
Albertans will have a lot of questions about this huge privacy breach of their personal information and they are within their rights to demand real answers.
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Dave
Excellent Monday morning summary, pointing out exactly what's at stake, here.
Regarding Gordon McClure's "meandering" statement, I read that as the testament of somebody determined not to be the fall guy, here. Good luck.
Tucked away in those two pages was a facsinating hint that the UCP 's Bill 54 restrictions have hamstrung other investigations by Elections Alberta, what McClure called "other matters." Will those now come to light?
Hard to feel any sympathy for Danielle Smith whose enabling and some would say encouragement of the separatists have now put her in the position of being called upon to hold a public inquiry and/or delay the referendum. Neither will happen. She's telegraphed her intent to let the RCMP and Elections Alberta carry the investigative ball (again, good luck with that). Internal UCP politics won't allow postponing the referendum. Interesting to consider how much personal political damage this egregious breach will do to Smith? Albertans are slow to outrage but this one may do it. It's got legs.
One little detail caught my attention reading the CEO's statement: Parker's Centurion Project is actually a corporation. It might be revealing to know who are the owners and directors of said corporation.
In the meantime, the next shoe to drop in this slow motion tragedy is the court decision, due this week, concerning the very legality of the petition itself with respect to Treaty Rights. To hear the protestations of Jeffrey "Black-Hat-Guy" Rath this morning on CBC, I have to think there's a real chance this entire exercise could be shut down.