EDMONTON — The Alberta UCP and NDP have adopted unfamiliar approaches when responding to an alleged breach of Alberta's electoral data, with the opposition calling for immediate action, while government leaders want to let the independent investigations unfold first. "Let's be clear, this is a big deal," said NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi when opening Question Period on Monday. "Every single Canadian citizen over 18 in Alberta has had their personal information exposed to bad actors for over a month, and the government's done basically nothing.""Does the premier understand what a big deal this is, and what's she going to do about it?" Nenshi later held a press conference calling on Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP to take four immediate actions, including summoning the Chief Electoral Office to testify before a cabinet committee and reversing Bill 54 to restore Elections Alberta's prior investigation powers. "Government has to show compassion, government has to show empathy, and government has to take action to address people's concerns," Nenshi told reporters. "This government is choosing to do none of those things and hoping it all goes away. It's not going away. And Albertans deserve answers, and Albertans need help.".Smith said her government recognizes the severity of the alleged data breach and hopes that, if the RCMP and Elections Alberta investigations reveal it occurred, those individuals should be held accountable.However, the UCP do not intend to step in and act in a way that could compromise the ongoing investigation."We are watching, Mr. Speaker, as we go through and see whether a breach has occurred, what the consequences of that will be," said Smith during Question Period."It's determined by the Elections Commissioner, and then we can make a judgment at that point on whether there needs to be any additional changes in the law. But at the moment, Mr. Speaker, we want the process to play out.".Both Smith's and Nenshi's approaches run contrary to some of their historical actions.The NDP often criticizes Smith's government for meddling with Alberta's Electoral Boundaries Commission, firing AHS CEOs, failing to renew the Auditor General amid its procurement scandal investigation, and using the notwithstanding clause to bypass judicial challenges."Despite the premier's spin on this, what's happened is the UCP doesn't like the results, and they're looking for a do-over," Nenshi said on April 20 about the UCP's decision to partially accept the maps of the independent boundaries commission."So what will the government do this time to ensure that this new process will cave to their pressure and help them rig the election?"Conversely, in addition to the above-mentioned actions, the UCP has made adjustments to Bill 14 and, allegedly, forced the issuance of a second Alberta independence petition after a judge and the Chief Electoral Officer dismissed the initial application."Citizen initiative is meant to be permissive,” Smith said on Dec. 8, 2025, when defending Bill 14. “It's meant to allow for citizens to identify an issue that they can get a collection of their fellow citizens to come together to put it on a ballot so that it can be voted on.”“It is not meant to have gatekeepers, and we don't want to see a gatekeeper in the Chief Electoral Officer. We don't want to see a gatekeeper in the court either. Mr. Speaker, we are the elected representatives. We make the decisions. We are a parliamentary democracy.”.Elections Alberta and the RCMP are both investigating a suspected data breach of Alberta's List of Electors after information from a copy of the list issued to the Republican Party of Alberta was found on the website of an Alberta independence advocacy group, The Centurion Project."The Centurion Project relied on a third party to provide us with datasets for this tool," reads a statement from The Centurion Project issued on Thursday."The Centurion Project is aware of recent allegations regarding the app’s data. We have taken action to shutdown the app until we can ensure that the dataset is compliant with Alberta and Federal privacy laws."Cameron Davies, the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, told the Western Standard that his party gave a "third-party" access to the list to conduct party business on their behalf, and rescinded it once they learned about the potential misuse.The Centurion Project and the Republican Party of Alberta have said they will comply with both investigations.
