A voter leaves a polling station in Calgary in 2023.TODD KOROL/Reuters
Premier Danielle Smith’s government last year raised the threshold for Elections Alberta to launch investigations, imposing a standard that the watchdog says prohibited it from probing an early tip about the alleged misuse of personal information for 2.9 million residents.
Elections Alberta is under fire for not taking action after receiving information that a separatist group, known as the Centurion Project, may have had unauthorized access to the province’s list of electors. Jen Gerson, a journalist with The Line, flagged the possible violation in an e-mail to the agency on March 31.
But Elections Alberta stood on the sidelines, and personal data, which the agency now alleges stems from unauthorized use of the province’s list of electors, was available to approved Centurion volunteers until a court on Thursday ordered the separatists to stop distributing the information.
Ms. Smith has scheduled a referendum for Oct. 19, with the government proposing a number of questions around immigration. Separatist leaders will submit their petition on Monday to have an independence question included on the ballot, although that effort is already being challenged in court.
Centurion was using the alleged list of electors to identify support for the independence movement, similar to how a political party uses voter lists to gauge its prospects and get out the vote.
Elections Alberta, in a statement on Friday, said the legislation governing its investigations prohibited it from launching a probe when Ms. Gerson’s tip landed.
“The legislation requires that we must have ‘reasonable grounds to believe an offence has occurred’ to start investigations,” spokeswoman Michelle Gurney said.
RCMP probing allegations that Alberta separatist organization accessed, distributed electors list
The “reasonable grounds” provision was added to the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act when Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced a raft of amendments to the province’s elections laws in 2025.
The new standard is difficult to meet.
“This is similar to the amount of evidence that, in a criminal matter, police would need to have to arrest someone,” Ms. Gurney said. “Reasonable grounds is a much higher standard than ‘grounds to warrant’ (which was our previous old standard), or ‘what might seem obvious’ based on a complainant’s suspicions or beliefs.”
Heather Jenkins, a spokeswoman for Mr. Amery, in a statement said “any suggestion” that the government’s 2025 amendments prevent Elections Alberta “from investigating these matters is completely inaccurate.”
To support her argument, she pointed to the amended section of the Election Act that stipulates the election commissioner may conduct investigations when there are “reasonable grounds” to believe an offence occurred. This is the same clause Elections Alberta argues limits its ability to launch probes.
The amendments that Elections Alberta asserts make it more difficult for it to launch investigations were part of a package that also reduced the agency’s ability to issue sanctions.
The Globe and Mail reported last month that the government reduced the amount of time Elections Alberta has to penalize political finance violations while Sam Mraiche, who has close ties to the UCP, was under investigation by the regulator. Mr. Mraiche denies wrongdoing and the allegations have not been tested in court.
Naheed Nenshi, the Leader of the Official Opposition, called for the government to reverse the changes to Elections Alberta’s investigative powers.
“We know the law doesn’t work and it has to be fixed,“ he told reporters on Friday.
Sam Blackett, a spokesman for the Premier, pointed to Ms. Smith’s social media in response to questions about how the government’s new standard affects Elections Alberta’s investigative abilities.
“We understand both Elections Alberta and the RCMP are looking into this matter thoroughly and we will wait for the results of those investigations before commenting further and assessing whether any future legislative changes need to be considered,” Ms. Smith posted Friday morning.
Elections Alberta and the RCMP issued separate statements on Thursday confirming they are probing the alleged misuse of the list of electors.
Elections Alberta said it obtained “credible information” on April 27 that the Centurion Project had access to a list of electors that was lawfully provided to a registered political party. The agency’s timeline of events omitted any mention of Ms. Gerson’s tip.
Alberta Election Commissioner Paula Hale responded to Ms. Gerson on April 10, according to a letter the journalist posted online. Elections Alberta’s preliminary review determined “there are not reasonable grounds to allow me to direct an investigation” into the potential breach, the letter said. Without further information, the matter was closed, Ms. Hale said.
Gordon McClure, Alberta’s chief electoral officer, warned the government last year that its revised elections laws could hamstring investigations and make Alberta a national outlier.
The election commissioner, he cautioned, would have to be satisfied that a breach of the legislation occurred prior to speaking with anyone about an allegation or gathering or reviewing any records.
Premier Danielle Smith speaks to the media at the Legislature in Edmonton on Dec. 10, 2025.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
“Practically, this means that the onus will fall on a complainant to provide a substantively completed investigation in order for the Election Commissioner to look into a matter,” Mr. McClure wrote in a letter to Mr. Amery in May, 2025, before the proposals became law.
“The proposed changes will eliminate the majority of the compliance activities undertaken by the Election Commissioner,” he said. “None of the substantive investigations of the last five years could have been initiated if this threshold had been in place.”
“We are not aware of any other jurisdiction in Canada that has imposed a similar standard.”
On Thursday, Centurion took down its app that allowed approved users access to information that Elections Alberta alleges originated from a list of electors. The app’s root database, analyzed by The Globe and Mail, contained more personal information than what was available through the tool’s simple search function.
Elections Alberta alleges the data originated from the Republican Party of Alberta’s list of electors, which it had lawfully obtained as a registered political party. However, the province’s Election Act restricts use of the list and third parties such as Centurion are not permitted access to the data.
Centurion and the Republican Party of Alberta separately stated they will comply with investigations.
The breach ignited fierce criticism of Alberta’s privacy laws.
Diane McLeod, Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner, said in a statement that because the Personal Information Protection Act doesn’t apply to political parties, the breach could fall outside of her jurisdiction.
The breach presents a serious risk to public officials, law enforcement and people fleeing intimate partner violence, Ms. McLeod said.
“This incident demonstrates that it is high time for political parties to be made subject to PIPA,” Ms. McLeod wrote. Provincial parties in B.C., for example, are subject to PIPA.