Separatist group ordered to pull down Alberta electoral list

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The Elections Alberta list of electors was in the news in March when Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally referenced the list in his official response to a recall petition targeting him. 

Nally was not penalized — even though an investigation found he violated the legislation. 

In November, Nally stated that the constituent behind the effort to recall him didn't vote in the last election and questioned whether that should disqualify the petition.

However, Elections Alberta commissioner Paula Hale said Nally had accessed the list of electors for "a purpose not authorized by the Election Act." 

In a March letter, Hale said there was ambiguity about whether the use of the list would have been appropriate in the circumstances and closed the file without penalty or reprimand to Nally.

Respondents were asked how they would vote if a referendum was held today asking if Alberta should separate from the rest of Canada.

About 27 per cent said they'd vote for separation, while roughly 67 per cent said they'd vote against it. Six per cent responded that they weren't sure.

"What was amazing was how very close the numbers this year were with last year, well within the margin of error," said Calgary-based pollster Janet Brown, whose Janet Brown Opinion Research directed the random survey of 1,200 Albertans between April 7 and 22, carried out by Trend Research. 

The survey has a margin of error of +/– 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The survey also asked respondents how they thought a majority of their fellow Albertans would vote. About  nine per cent of respondents thought it was very likely that a majority of Albertans would vote to separate from Canada, while 20 per cent said it was somewhat likely.

Some 34 per cent said they thought it was not very likely, while the same percentage of respondents said they thought it was not at all likely.

An anonymous complaint made Elections Alberta officials aware of the database, court heard Thursday.

Investigators following up on the complaint became concerned about a YouTube video showing how to search the Centurion Project database for names and personal information.

Investigators signed into the database to view the electoral list and discovered profiles for scores of voters. They then used a specialized software program that linked the database to the electoral list provided to the Republican Party of Alberta in June 2025.

This probe left investigators with a “high degree of certainty” that the list provided to the Republican Party and the one being shared to the public are a match, said Redman.

But there is a "question mark" around how Centurion Project obtained the list, the lawyer for Elections Alberta said. 

"How that transaction happened, I can't say," Redman told the judge.

Senior Elections Alberta officials were in the courtroom but declined to comment on the probe. None of the respondents were in court this morning but are expected to be served today. 

During the hearing, the court heard details of the Elections Alberta investigation into the database breach.

The investigation hinged on something called "salted names," according to lawyers.

Each electoral list released by Elections Alberta contained fictitious entries or false names. These allow investigators to trace each list back to its source in the event of a breach or contravention of access laws.

Using a specialized program to probe the database, senior investigators allegedly determined that the list published on the database was the one legitimately given to the Republican Party of Alberta, court was told. 

It’s not clear how the list was shared with pro-separatist group Centurion Project, which hosted the database, but it was "once in the hands" of the Republican Party, said lawyer Joseph Redman.

The Centurion Project is a pro-sovereignty group that is also with Elections Alberta as a third-party advertiser. 

Court heard that Elections Alberta officials served members of the Centurion Project with a cease-and-desist order by email this week. The letter was also served in person at an event hosted by the Centurion Project in Edmonton on Wednesday evening, court heard.

In a statement, the Edmonton Police Service said officers attended the event at the request of Elections Alberta to assist in serving documents. Police have declined further comment.  

I was in the courtroom this morning when the application for a temporary injunction was heard and granted.

A lawyer for Elections Alberta told the court that the urgency of the situation "crystalized" last night when reporters began asking questions about the electoral list being shared in a searchable database created by an Alberta pro-separatist group.

Court heard that everyone who logged into the separatist database is an "unauthorized user" and there is concern that public attention on the situation will drive more traffic to the database.

"Elections Alberta is taking every possible action to determine if this has taken place and, if so, to protect and recover the information."

Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, byelections and referendums.

Elections Alberta announced earlier today it became aware of an alleged misuse of an "extremely sensitive" electors database containing the personal information of millions of Albertans who are registered and eligible to vote in provincial elections.  

The agency said the list includes first names, middle names, surnames, addresses, postal codes, telephone numbers, unique identifier numbers, electoral divisions and voting areas.

Elections Alberta said there was no breach of its databases or systems. The list can be obtained by registered political parties, MLAs, candidates, election officers and constituency associations, for purposes outlined in legislation.

The agency went to court this morning to seek a temporary injunction for the database to be taken down, which was granted after a brief court hearing.

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