The United Conservative Party (UCP) caucus acknowledged on Tuesday that their staff participated in an online session last month organized by a separatist group known as the Centurion Project. According to the caucus, the staff members were under the impression that the information shared during the meeting was lawfully acquired.
Just a fortnight after this meeting, a judge mandated the Centurion Project to dismantle a digital database containing private voter details.
On Tuesday, the Alberta NDP revealed three screenshots from what they claimed was an April 16 online meeting. These images depicted two alleged participants with names matching those of the UCP president and a caucus staff member. While a UCP representative confirmed that staff attended the meeting, they clarified that the party’s president was not present as he was attending a fundraising event at that time.
The NDP asserted that some attendees at the meeting witnessed presenters displaying a digital tool that contained personal details of Alberta voters.
The opposition party alleges that the video captures Centurion Project organizer David Parker searching for the name of former Alberta premier Jason Kenney in a tool labeled “search electors” while demonstrating how to operate the application. The information associated with Kenney’s name was obscured in the image shared by the NDP.
CBC News has reached out to three individuals involved with the Centurion Project, including Parker, for their comments. None had responded by the time this article was published.
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The Centurion Project operates as a registered third-party advertiser in Alberta, and last week, the court was informed that Parker is its primary organizer. In a statement released on Thursday, the group mentioned that it depended on a “third party” for the datasets used in its tool, which is purportedly designed to “train volunteers on being better citizens and influencing the political process.”
The group clarified, “The Centurion App is solely used by volunteers to identify individuals they personally know within a database. They do not have access to any phone numbers or email addresses and are encouraged only to reach out to people they already know.”
During a news conference on Tuesday, NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi stated that he had viewed a video revealing that Kenney’s home address and personal information were displayed to participants of the meeting. The NDP claims to possess a copy of this video but has opted not to release it, as it has submitted it to the RCMP.
CBC News has not had access to the video or independently verified the authenticity of the screenshots.
Nenshi expressed his belief that any UCP staff who attended the meeting should have reported to the provincial government and the police that Centurion Project organizers might have been misusing personal data from the province’s elector list.
“This is completely unacceptable,” he remarked.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi asserts that UCP staff members attended a meeting where Albertans’ personal information was disclosed, stating those staffers should have informed the government and police. (Paul Rampersaud/CBC News)
When asked by CBC News whether anyone from the NDP participated in the meeting, Nenshi declined to disclose his sources.
Elections Alberta, police investigating privacy breach
Information about the April 16 meeting surfaced six days after Elections Alberta secured a court injunction against the Centurion Project, asserting that the group had acquired and misused the province’s elector list for its database. This list contains nearly three million adults in Alberta, including full names, home addresses, and phone numbers of eligible voters.
Elections Alberta indicated that fictitious names inserted into elector lists provided to political parties demonstrate that the Centurion Project was utilizing a list that had been legally given to the Republican Party of Alberta.
The Republican Party has stated that it is cooperating with the investigation led by the agency. Additionally, the Alberta RCMP is also looking into the matter following a complaint lodged by the NDP.
Jason Kenney was the inaugural leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party and served as premier from 2019 to 2022. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)
On Tuesday, Kenney shared on the social media platform X that he is seeking legal counsel regarding the alleged disclosure of his personal details, labeling it as “outrageous” and “potentially hazardous.”
In his post, Kenney mentioned that he has previously encountered threats from individuals associated with the separatist, anti-vaccine, and far-right movements in Alberta.
He expressed concern that the “wider data breach may also jeopardize vulnerable Albertans, including victims of domestic violence, journalists, activists, judges, and other public servants for years to come.”
UCP caucus states staff routinely attend political gatherings
UCP caucus communications director Shanna Schulhauser stated in a release that staff “frequently attend politically relevant events,” including the April 16 Centurion Project meeting.
She did not promptly respond to inquiries regarding the number of staff who attended the meeting or their identities.
The UCP caucus staff member identified in the NDP’s screenshots did not respond to messages from CBC News on Tuesday afternoon.
“The organizers of this meeting were emphatic that the data being utilized was acquired legally,” Schulhauser noted in her statement. “At that time, the staff observing the meeting had no reason to suspect that the website in question was illegal.”
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The statement further indicated that Nenshi should have informed the provincial government as soon as he became aware of the alleged data breach. Nenshi asserted that the NDP notified the RCMP about the Centurion Project meeting on April 17.
An Alberta RCMP representative stated that they began acting on the tip on April 20, spending 10 days reviewing it before launching an investigation on April 30.
UCP spokesperson Dave Prisco mentioned in an email that party president Rob Smith was attending a fundraising event in Red Deer during the Centurion Project meeting.
“Naheed Nenshi is using a common name to malign our president,” Prisco stated. “Rob Smith was never present at that meeting, nor has he attended any Centurion gatherings.”
During the legislative question period on Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith remarked that she learned about the issues concerning voter information through media reports. She expressed surprise to learn that any UCP caucus staff members were present at the Centurion Project meeting.
“I believe the member opposite is requesting us to politically interfere in an independent investigation, which we will not do,” she asserted.
Smith emphasized that for authorities investigating the privacy breach to hold individuals accountable for any misconduct, it is crucial for politicians to refrain from involvement.
