The personal info of former Alberta premier Jason Kenney may have been exposed by Alberta separatists. He thinks it was no accid

Former Alberta premiere Jason Kenney says he does non conceive it was an fortuity that his personal info was allegedly compromised after learning it may have been exposed during an online meeting hosted by a pro-separatist organization.

The concerns stem from a meeting held last month by the Centurion Project, which is facing significant scrutiny after a massive voter information breach linked to a digital tool it developed in order to further its cause.

“It’s just not pleasant, … [people] knowing my personal information, where I live and so forth,” he said, adding that he has received threats over the years.

Jason Kenney 'ticked off' and 'concerned' after private information leaked

The Centurion Project, which is listed as a third-party advertiser in Alberta, had posted a database of the personal information of nearly three million Alberta voters. A judge ordered the database to be taken down last week.

Elections Alberta is investigating and has said the list came from a pro-independence political party called the Republican Party of Alberta. It’s unclear how it was shared with the Centurion Project. 

The RCMP and Alberta’s privacy commissioner are also conducting their own investigations into the affair.

In a statement issued by the Centurion Project last week, the organization said it relied on a "third party" to provide it with datasets for its database tool, which it said is used to “help train volunteers on how to be better citizens and to impact the political process.” 

David Parker, a Centurion Project organizer, was also involved in the grassroots political organization Take Back Alberta, which was behind the push for Kenney’s ouster as leader of the United Conservative Party in 2022.

Kenney said he had already been alarmed when he heard about the data breach last week.

“I immediately thought, this can't be good for me, because some of the more over-caffeinated people in the separatist movement are the kinds of people who’ve been making fairly frequent threats against me while I was premier and since,” he said.

Kenney said he is taking security precautions and looking at civil action.

“I’ve got a thick skin but it is concerning,” he said.

“I've got people threatening that I will be executed following the Nuremberg trials for my crimes against humanity. These are people who are not well, and I think most of them are probably harmless, but all it takes is one person to go too far.”

For months, a pro-separatist group called Stay Free Alberta has been gathering signatures for a petition that aims to force a referendum on Alberta independence.

Kenney said he believes those who want Alberta to secede from Canada have legitimate grievances, but he has been adamant that Alberta should remain in Canada.

“I think we can expect to see a gelling of the pro-Canada side in this debate in the weeks to come,” he said. 

“I think a lot of Alberta federalists have just been hoping that this thing will run out of steam, won't get the signatures, will run into legal problems. But I don't think we can take this for granted.”

There have been calls from academics for a public inquiry into the data breach. Dozens have signed an open letter.

“I think if we have an independence referendum in October without a public inquiry, people will justifiably question the legitimacy of that election outcome,” said Feo Snagovsky, a political science professor at the University of Alberta who signed the letter.

When asked whether he thinks the Alberta government should hold an inquiry, Kenney said he is generally skeptical of them and is instead awaiting the results of the RCMP investigation.

“This is in the context of a possible referendum this October,” he said. “I don’t think there’s time to really get to the bottom of all of this and take corrective action before then.”

When asked whether the Alberta government will hold a public inquiry, Heather Jenkins, spokesperson for Justice Minister Mickey Amery, said the ministry is waiting for the results of the RCMP and Elections Alberta investigations before commenting further.

On Monday, Stay Free Alberta submitted its petition to Elections Alberta hoping to force a referendum on separatism in the fall. 

Signature verification has been paused pending a separate court case. 

Despite that, campaign organizers have said they believe they can force the premier’s hand by gaining influence in her party.

“The premier can put this to a ballot regardless of what happens with Elections Alberta and that's why you would want to join the UCP,” said Mitch Sylvestre, the head of Stay Free Alberta.

Kenney said he has concerns about the future of the party he helped found in 2017, when the Progressive Conservative Party and the Wildrose Party were unified.

“COVID's gone, I'm gone and Justin Trudeau's gone,” he said. “So they then, I think, took that political energy and they picked up the separatist cause as their latest fight.

“These are folks who have always been at the margins of Alberta politics, never able to get more than one or two per cent of the vote provincially, who are trying to take over apparently the governing party that ran as a federalist party. This is profoundly undemocratic.”

Senior reporter

Julia Wong is a senior reporter based in Edmonton.

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