EDMONTON — Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis claimed on Thursday that the Alberta RCMP told him there was no credible evidence of foreign interference, but that the situation is fluid following Alberta's electoral data breach. "Several months ago, questions arose regarding foreign interference in regards to the Alberta separatist movement," said Ellis during Question Period on Thursday after NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi pressed him about what the UCP are doing to combat potential foreign interference. "I too had these very same concerns. I certainly asked staff to reach out to the RCMP. The RCMP informed, and we received information that there's no credible information that has been received to suggest that Alberta separatist movement has been subject to foreign interference.".Media and industry experts have raised concerns about potential foreign interference, primarily by Russia and the US, in the Alberta independence movement, including the spreading of disinformation.A report released on Wednesday by a collection of media, technology, and foreign affairs researchers detailed what they believed were potential risks of foreign meddling in the Alberta independence movement.Concerns have been amplified following the leaking of Alberta's List of Electors issued to the Republican Party of Alberta and posted publicly in The Centurion Project's online database.Ellis admitted that the situation is fluid and the presence of foreign interference in the movement may have changed following the breach."However, I have also said, Mr. Speaker, the situation is extremely fluid, and due to the new allegations that have been made regarding elections, Alberta's information breach, I hope the RCMP thoroughly look into this matter," Ellis said..Elections Alberta and the RCMP are both conducting investigations into the alleged breach of electoral data by The Centurion Project and the Republican Party of Alberta.A judge issued an injunction on April 30, one day after the allegations became public, ordering The Centurion Project to remove the database from their website, and for them and the Republican Party of Alberta to stop using and disseminating any information that may have come from the electoral list.The judge also ordered the two groups to provide a list of individuals who may have received information from the data.Elections Alberta began sending letters to individuals on Wednesday, ordering them to cease and desist any use of information they may have received from the list..The Centurion Project has said they legally obtained the data in their dataset from external sources, such as internet scraping, Canada Post, and 411."The Centurion Project relied on a third party to provide us with datasets for this tool," reads their statement issued on April 30."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, has told the Western Standard that his party gave a "third-party" access to the electoral list inorder to conduct party business on their behalf, and subsequently revoked it upon finding out about the potential misuse.Both groups say they will cooperate with Elections Alberta and the RCMP's invegations.
