Privacy watchdog calls voter list leak 'worst breach in Canadian history'

Alberta's privacy commissioner is renewing calls for stronger laws governing political parties after a leaked provincial voter list prompted hundreds of complaints about personal safety.

Over 400 Albertans have contacted the Information and Privacy Commissioner's office expressing fears following the leak, which exposed names, addresses, postal codes, phone numbers, and voter identification numbers. The list was provided to the Republican Party of Alberta and later published by the Centurion Project, a separatist group led by Take Back Alberta founder David Parker.

"My personal information should never have ended up exposed like this, and I do not think the government fully understands how unsafe this makes some families feel," one complainant wrote. Another stated: "Knowing that personal information tied to our household could now potentially be accessed, shared, or misused is honestly terrifying."

Elections Alberta provides voter lists to political parties, MLAs, and constituency associations for voter contact purposes, but they are not permitted to share the data with third parties.

Commissioner Diane McLeod called the incident "the worst breach in Canadian history involving voter data." Her office and the RCMP are investigating. McLeod has spent decades calling for amendments to Alberta's privacy legislation to cover political parties—a gap she argues leaves Albertans vulnerable.

"If a political party or other political actors collect, use or disclose personal information for political activities, they have a responsibility to respect privacy rights and be held accountable," McLeod said. She emphasized that privacy protections should meet a common standard across Canada regardless of who handles the data.