Carney expressed 'concern' to Smith over leak of Alberta voter data, PMO says
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney raised concerns about the leak of a provincial electors list in a meeting with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Ottawa on Friday, according to his office.
The pair met to discus outstanding issues regarding the energy deal that was signed in November, with Smith in the city to speak at annual conservative networking conference.
“As the prime minister stated, the breaches of the personal privacy of millions of Canadian citizens are deeply concerning. The prime minister expressed this concern directly with the premier this morning,” Audrey Champoux, a spokeswoman in the Prime Minister’s Office, wrote on Friday.
“Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner has commenced an investigation into these allegations, as have Elections Alberta and the RCMP. Following these independent investigations, the prime minister expects appropriate action will be taken against those responsible.”
Elections Alberta sought a court injunction and launched an investigation after it says information came to light that an Alberta separatist group known as the Centurion Project had obtained a copy of the provincial list of electors, which it was not authorized to have and later shared, with 568 people having accessed that list.
It says the copy of the list in question had been provided earlier to the Republican Party of Alberta, as it is a registered political party in the province. It is a party pushing for a vote on independence.
The unauthorized sharing of millions of Albertans’ personal information has been widely condemned by leaders at both the federal and provincial levels, with former Alberta premier Jason Kenney recently telling The Canadian Press that he has changed his security measures in light of the fact his personal information may have been accessed. Kenney is a member of Postmedia’s board.
The data breach comes after leaders within the province’s separatist movement announced earlier this week that it had collected slightly more than 300,000 signatures as part of its petition drive to force a vote on independence.
That stands higher than the 178,000 threshold which had been set for such a petition to be successful.
Speaking at the sidelines of the Canada Strong and Free Network on Friday, Smith pointed to the ongoing investigations when asked whether she would support a public inquiry into the breach.
“At some future point, we may want to do a review of whether there needs to be any changes to the legislation to ensure that the investigative arm has all the powers that they need and all the resources that they need to do these kinds of investigations, but not right in the middle of an investigation,” she said.
Smith says the federal government’s plan to pave the way for the construction of a new oil pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s coast is important to address the sentiments of separatists in her province after a decade of frustration with federal energy policies under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
“I’ve always taken the independence movement very seriously,” she said on Friday.
National Post
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.