Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has emphasized the need for legal consequences for those responsible for leaking private voter information. The Premier’s statement on Friday addressed the allegations that an Alberta separatist group illicitly acquired and disclosed the province’s voter list. Smith stressed the importance of safeguarding Albertans’ personal data and emphasized the necessity for holding wrongdoers accountable under the law.
Following reports of the Centurion Project, a pro-separatist group, obtaining and releasing the electoral list online, both the Alberta RCMP and Elections Alberta have launched investigations. The list, originally provided to the Republican Party of Alberta in 2025, was removed from the Centurion website after Elections Alberta obtained a temporary court injunction for its removal from public access.
Smith’s United Conservative Party government refrained from further comments on the matter pending the investigation outcomes. The government awaits the investigative findings to assess potential legislative adjustments. Despite being on a trade mission in the United Kingdom, Smith remained unavailable for comment when the unauthorized use of voter information surfaced in an Edmonton court.
The Centurion Project allegedly transformed the electoral list into a searchable application, making the personal details of nearly three million Albertans public. Centurion members claimed to have acquired the list through a third party with the aim of identifying and recruiting supporters for Alberta’s separatist cause before a potential fall referendum.
While Elections Alberta confirmed that the shared data originated from the Republican Party of Alberta’s electoral list, the means by which it changed hands remains unclear, prompting further scrutiny by Elections Alberta and the RCMP. Alberta’s privacy commissioner, Diane McLeod, is also investigating the breach and advocating for legislative changes to enhance privacy protections for Albertans and extend regulations to political parties.
McLeod highlighted the existing gap in Alberta’s privacy laws concerning political parties’ handling of personal information and urged for amendments to provide stronger privacy safeguards akin to those in the Personal Information and Privacy Act (PIPA). With over 2.9 million Albertans impacted by the breach, McLeod stressed the severity of the situation and the potential risks individuals face. She underscored the urgency of subjecting political parties to PIPA regulations to prevent such breaches in the future.