Separatist leader behind voter list leak not co-operating with investigators | Power & Politics

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]All right, we're going to tell you about a development now in Alberta politics over that massive, massive voter data breach. Elections Alberta says the separatist leader implicated in that breach is stonewalling investigators.

[00:00:11]David Parker and his pro-Sparatist group are accused of publishing the phone numbers and addresses of nearly 3 million Albertans online. The CBC's Aaron Collins, he may be one of them. Uh he's here now. Uh I I don't know, Aaron, but it seems like you would be registered to vote in that province, so here we are. Um, David Parker, well known in Alberta political circles, but give the rest of the Canada praisey of this guy because he's been at the center of a lot of a big things the last number of years.

[00:00:35]>> Yeah. Can can probably confirm that I have voted in this province at some point. Uh, but in a nutshell, you're right. We've been talking about uh the organization David Parker is linked to for a while now. He's he's really the central character in that and you you use the right word in the introduction there, that massive data breach uh that you alluded to. And and if you've been following Alberta politics in recent years, you will know Parker's name, not just from this story. Kind of perhaps best known as the head of that group, Take Back Alberta, that that organized UCP members to turf Jason Kenny as the party's leader and Alberta's premier back in 2022 and then worked behind the scenes to have Kenny replaced with Danielle Smith. Now, now since that time, Parker's really been focused more on working with Alberta separatists to sort of mobilize supporters for independence here in the province. So, so that really, if you want to know who David Parker is, he's a big player in both the governing United Conservative Party and the province's sovereignty movement.

[00:01:35]>> Yes. And take back Alberta sort of born out of the COVID restrictions backlash and that really became the vehicle for forming things. So, look, David Parker makes a lot of news in Alberta. He's making news now because his group the Centurion Project or published and gave access to the the database and despite the cease and desist, he's not cooperating with with Elections Alberta.

[00:01:56]So, what's the latest on that, Erin?

[00:01:58]>> Yep, that's right. the that group, the Centurion Project, they obtained uh this data uh the organization run by Parker through uh and what they were trying to do basically is run this app that allowed volunteers to access the information from this voters list that that I may or may not be on so they could mobilize support for independence.

[00:02:20]Right now, the problem is the Centurion Project got this voters list which was originally given to the Republican Party of Alberta, a pro-soverevereignty political party that was allowed to have it because it ran in a bi-election. The problem is the Centurion Project wasn't supposed to have this data, right?

[00:02:34]You're not supposed to pass it around.

[00:02:36]So, Elections Alberta found out that that group was using it. they stepped in and the elections watchdog they launched an investigation and they ordered Parker and and the 600 people connected to that Centurion project to basically, you know, stop using the data. So, you know, long long way of getting to it. But the news today really is that the head of elections Alberta says Parker isn't cooperating with that investigation and he's refused to follow the cease and desist order and stop using that data.

[00:03:03]So, that's a problem. And uh you know, Parker not taking orders from Elections Alberta too seriously in that regard, but the head of Elections Alberta says, "Look, this breach is super serious and Alberta needs tough tough laws to protect voter information moving forward.

[00:03:20]>> Everyone in Elections Alberta understands and sympathizes with the public concerns of the data breach. It's serious. We agree there needs to be a stronger legislation to protect the list of electors. We don't think the list of electors should be shared until further new legislation is in place and we will be providing advice to the legislative assembly once on this once our investigation is complete.

[00:03:46]>> So you can imagine the impact of that not sharing any voters lists until this investigation is complete. These things don't move quickly. A and this investigation into Parker's pro-independence group clearly has the potential given given what you hear there spilling over into into other areas as well. But you know, just as a final, the chief electoral officer there talks about the lack of legislative teeth and real power here. We know that David Parker has unpaid fines of like 100 to $120,000 from Elections Alberta and has >> tweeted some bad things about Elections Alberta accusing him of lawfare. So he's not going to cooperate. He hasn't paid his fines. What happens now like in terms of the powers to investigate and force action here?

[00:04:26]>> Yeah, not afraid to express his opinion online, Mr. Parker. And as you mentioned there, not the first time he's he's had a runin with elections Alberta. Uh I think 120,000 bucks is is uh is the political violations that he's he's racked up so far that and and I and he hasn't really made any attempts to pay them. So that's all backed up in court as well. And you know, could be some more serious consequences from this, not just fines coming out of this current investigation, too. I mean, he could face uh thousands and thousands of dollars more in fines, which, you know, he may or may not take seriously, but there is the potential at least for for jail time as well. This is a significant breach of of uh privacy in this province. And a reminder, uh David, this isn't the only investigations by Election Alberta into this data breach or or Mr. Parker or his his organization, the Centur Centurion Project. I mean, the province's privacy commission is looking into this. The RCMP's looking into this as well.

[00:05:24]And of course, all of this happening as that petition was put in last week with 300,000 Albertans calling for a sovereignty vote. It's kind of hanging over all of that as as that process of certification is underway. So, it's just never boring here in Alberta.

[00:05:39]>> No, it never is. In fact, it's so animated your background just changes.

[00:05:42]We were talking. All right. Here's Aaron Collins in Calgary. Thanks so much, man.

[00:05:47]A massive data breach in Alberta is drumming up even more controversy as the leader of the separatist group accused of breaching the private information of millions of voters is refusing to cooperate with at least one investigation. Elections Alberta says David Parker, the founder of the Centurion Project, is not cooperating and has refused to confirm if he will comply with a cease and desist letter.

[00:06:09]The separatist group is accused of improperly obtaining and then misusing a provincial voter list by creating an online database that included Albertans full names, home addresses, and contact information. The RCMP is also investigating this breach. Now, David Parker already faces multiple hefty fines from Elections Alberta for previously violating voting laws and recently posted this to social media.

[00:06:32]This was in April. It reads, "Elections Alberta is an evil institution that is used to suppress democracy. I will not rest until everyone responsible for the lawfare being waged out of that den of evil are brought to justice.

[00:06:46]That's where we're going to start with the power panel. We've got Emily Nicola.

[00:06:49]She is a columnist for Lavoir. Nathan Cullen is a former NDP MP and a BCN NDP minister. Cameron Ahmad was head of communications for former prime minister Justin Trudeau. And Peter McCay is a former Conservative uh cabinet minister.

[00:07:03]Um you know this is Emily. um this is messy and um it's just maybe the future of the country that could be on the line as a result of this. I mean, what do you make of the fact that he has this he's not complying and calling the people who run elections enemies of democracy? What are your thoughts there?

[00:07:23]>> Uh yes, I was just laughing at the evil part, the den of evil uh and election Canada. It's uh it's really something.

[00:07:32]Um obviously it's it's not fun at all.

[00:07:35]um for uh the people whose data has been uh has been breached. Uh it is uh a serious matter, a serious concern. Um and it's also that even though there is an investigation, even though there is a fine, even though there are consequences, that that is already out there um and what other parties might do to it uh or with it uh is still is still a question. And so I think it's very worrisome if you're part of that breach.

[00:08:02]Uh there's also uh several concerns that people have been perhaps less paying attention to when it comes to online organizing as well and Facebook groups and whatnot and the ways in which it it has how people gather uh ele uh information as well about about electors. But no, it is a it is a really uh serious concern. I will just say that it's a weird day as well. Um there was uh this interview in LA prize this morning with Maldon leader of the PKqua who on a very different note very different topic also said that he's taking uh measures because he's scared to be spied on by Ottawa as he's look looking into doing a a referendum and so it's a it's a day for uh Ottawa is evil uh in this in this country on a very different style and and note and obviously it's not on the same scale of scandal at all. Um, but I'm just noticing that the two provinces are are having interesting conversations about the evils of Ottawa today.

[00:09:05]>> Well, this I mean David Parker's talking about elections Alberta, so it's the provincial elections office. But I take your point. It's about institutions, Nathan Cullen, right? And and yeah, and I look, I've mentioned this a couple of times, but Richard Warick in the Toronto Star, who grew up in Alberta, went back there and interviewed one of the separatist leaders, >> very revealing piece on the information e system there. and and one of these leaders suggested the king, King Charles may be out to get him for what he's doing. So, you know, the elections Alberta being called an evil institution used to suppress democracy, not paying fines, not complying, and misusing the list. I mean, how does a referendum go ahead in all of that?

[00:09:42]>> Well, that's part of the grievance. The list of grievances are about those institutions. uh we we like I don't want to say everything's reflected up from the US but this was part of the package that Donald Trump brought to the US electorate that not only if your life is no good or you're feeling agrieved by something the system at large in order for that narrative to land people have to have something to point to which institution you talking about going after elections Alberta or suggesting the federal government's going to spy on you because you ascend to be the premier of Quebec that is part of the pitch that is part of the conspiracy is that the system is rigged around us and it actually does huge harm I think inevitably to the Alberta separatist movement whatever it is cobbled together because now if you're saying I don't like the way transfer payments work in this country which is you can make an argument about it and Albertans have for a long time you're now getting locked into this conspiracy of elections Alberta runs our elections is now this den of evil and guilt by association. And I think this is also a problem for the premier because senior members of her staff have been directly implicated in this massive data breach of personal information affecting journalists, politicians, pastors, women escaping domestic violence. Like the list of people implicated by this is 3 million long.

[00:11:09]>> Right. But now clarify this question.

[00:11:12]The the staff, the government staffer was someone who attended the online meeting, right? That's what you're talking about there. Yeah. No, I just want I just wanted to clarify that for people at home so they know what we're talking about here.

[00:11:20]>> This this is this is the challenge for Premier Smith is that I think their strategy has let a little steam off the the separatist feeling in Alberta by lowering the threshold to have this referendum. Her staff are encouraging some of her MLAs are voting or voting and supporting in favor of Alberta separating. This is dangerous stuff to play with. And I'm worried about the next few months for our Alberta friends and even those again who have some legitimate grievances with the way the country is run. You're now being collected up into this bandwagon of conspiracy and frankly insanity to talk about our elections offices this way.

[00:11:55]That's ridiculous.

[00:11:56]>> Yeah. Well, Cameron, it seems to be a a two-prong sort of strategy here by the premier in that, you know, sort of allowing the pressure release valve of people trying to get a referendum and using that to sort of create leverage in negotiations with the federal government. And the problem now is that the the guard rails have either been skipped or shattered or never existed and you have this sort of rogue operation allegedly happening. I mean, what do you make of the dynamic that that they're in now with David Parker just not cooperating with the investigation?

[00:12:24]>> It's astounding. I mean, I don't even know where to start, but Nathan Nathan put it so well. This is con layers of conspiracy upon each other. Um, this is well beyond a question of is it legitimate to hold a referendum on separation. This is about sewing doubt in our democratic institutions. It's about making all kinds of ridiculous claims without backing them up. And it's it's extremely dangerous, I think, for how we talk about our democracy. And uh I I think the premier has obviously a responsibility to deal with this with the seriousness that it deserves. She has to show that this that she's taking this seriously because the scale of this breach, the scale of the of the risk that it poses to millions of Albertans is huge. And so whether whatever you feel about a referendum, whatever you feel about Ottawa, whatever you feel about the idea of Alberta separating this, what happened here, what is alleged to have happened is extremely serious. So I think that is the biggest challenge for the premier is to show people where wherever they stand on the issue that she's taking it seriously and that this kind of behavior, not refusing to comply with Elections Alberta and and denigrating them like this publicly, it's just ridiculous. Um but the deeper issue here is that these types of and this is not the first time in in Canada that we've had proliferation of conspiracy theories um and that they've kind of gone unchecked by certain uh political movements. We should have learned our lessons from that and and people in leadership positions need to not laugh it off or just call it fringe but actually do something about it and hold people accountable. Well, you you know, Peter McCay, this is what what I wonder about because whether you like it or not, it is a legitimate political action to try to have a separatism referendum in Canada. We've got the Sovereignty Act. We've had, you know, we've have lived experience with it. But if you're going to allow it, you need to have real strong rules, oversight, guard rails, and enforcement rules around it, especially with social media, artificial intelligence, and what we know about foreign, if it's not direct government intervention, but just meddling to create chaos. And it all of the weaknesses seem to be on display right now in what's happening with Alberta.

[00:14:37]>> Yeah, I think that's right. And uh you know, I can hearken back and I think Nathan would have been there as well for the the Clarity Act debates that went on in Ottawa for a time. And so you're right. We're we're playing with fire unless we're able to ensure integrity within the system. And I think everybody on this call would be in in versiferous agreement that uh you know shaking at the foundation of democracy when you go off in all of these directions that question the legitimacy of the vote sort of laying the ground as we've seen in the United States before with you know the system's rigged uh the vote itself is not going to be legitimate. that that really does undermine people's faith in institutions and the system that is tasked with with casting votes and and whether their votes count. We saw, you know, an election overturned in Quebec on one vote >> and that came down to elections Canada.

[00:15:31]It wasn't it wasn't deemed to be anything along the lines of what we're seeing here. As far as complying with Elections Alberta, this is an important issue at stake, too, because does Elections Alberta have the the heft and the weight and the legislative authority to enforce? Um, are the RCMP going to be involved? And if so, people, you know, expect Yeah. that there will be there will be uh, you know, accountability.

[00:15:57]The premier is sort of now stepping back a little bit and saying, well, I have to wait for the investigation. Okay, fair enough. But, uh, the individual at the center of all of this has been a central figure, uh, in the premier's campaign, in the previous premier's campaign, in in a number of federal campaigns. And so, where is this data coming from? Who else was involved? I mean, this is going to potentially bust wide open when it comes to how this type of data is handled. And you know, I I want to underscore again the importance of the point that Emily and others have made and and that is people who are not partisan, not activists are caught up in this uh as true victims because their data is now available, can be used for all kinds of I dare say nefarious purposes, putting them at risk. So this is a very very serious issue that I think has the potential to go off madly in in all directions and until uh those tasked with reigning in this type of activity uh do their jobs there there is a lot at stake and not just in Alberta.

[00:17:10]>> Yeah. So, so on that, so Emily, as you look at this and the people tasked with reigning it in, whether it's the privacy commissioner, the elections commissioner who says they need better laws on this or the RCMP, David Parker is a formidable political organizer, right?

[00:17:23]Take back Alberta, born out of the COVID restriction protest movement, took out one premier, helped elect another, has played a role in nominations all over uh Alberta and into Saskatchewan.

[00:17:33]>> He he doesn't respect elections Alberta.

[00:17:35]He will not pay his fines. If the next step when you don't pay a lot of your fines and you are found guilty, you often get arrested. The the if something like that happens in a moment like this, it becomes an accelerant maybe in Alberta right now where where it is the the tinder is pretty dry with the separatist movement already.

[00:17:56]>> Yes. and there is the the potential for for martyrdom uh there for for a part of a base uh that has been radicalized. Um as as an outsider, I will just say that a lot of this sounds um you're right that this is a person that has been a a key organizer. Uh but a lot of even when starting back uh with the pandemic uh and the uh the movement against uh vaccines or whatnot a lot of it um the the border with the US was very uh porous. Uh and what I'm seeing is that uh it's not just the data breach issue.

[00:18:34]It's the fact that we are calling uh into uh question the legitimacy of an electoral process and rules and guidelines in Canada. that sounds very American and very Republican as well uh in terms of the script and the way to handle yourself uh as a way to chip away chip away at the legitimacy of democratic institutions and so I think there's a tactical playbook here uh that is also being uh borrowed or imitated and copied and uh we need to uh look at the ways in which democracy the south of the border is being eroded to be able to at least anticipate what moves could be done next. Uh it sounds very MAGA to me in terms of >> the way to handle yourself and in terms of being able to anticipate certain scenarios. I would look down south because there's certainly a connection between that movement and what's happening in the US as well.

[00:19:34]>> Yeah. Um I just got an email from someone saying, "What's the big deal with the Alberta Data Bridge name, address, of phone number?" That's called an oldfashioned phone book. Uh it's 2026. It's not 1986 and a lot of people have their addresses and numbers unlisted like the premier. That's right.

[00:19:48]The former premier and all of that's in this data set that went out. So, it's a violation of privacy and potential safety risk. But Nathan Cullen uh you have to calibrate the enforcement of this I suspect because of the Emily talked about martyrdom potential and and what it might do raising the question of what it could do to inflame uh sort of uh you know the separatist sentiment if the authorities crack down on this. I mean, how do you calibrate that going forward? because you got to protect the process, but there are the potential consequences of a fight like this.

[00:20:17]>> Does this not seem like an obvious setup? If there is an eventual referendum, they lose and then say it was stolen. It was rigged.

[00:20:25]>> It was like, tell me if any of this language sounds familiar >> because it's from a from a very familiar playbook and and and the language is already starting, right? saying, "Oh, the people who are running this race are corrupt and evil and all of these things." And so, it's part of that larger system, the the larger grievance package, why we need to separate, why we need to do all of these things and upend the system.

[00:20:51]This is why this is such dangerous stuff to play with. and to the notion of letting off steam. And to your second point about increasing the premier, Alberta premier's ability to negotiate with Ottawa. This is the the downside of this is if you talk to anybody who wants to invest in Alberta because this conversation and its continuence beyond the fall next year, the year after, we can ask our friends in Quebec how difficult it was over the 30-year span of leaving the country, not leaving the country, this being a consuming debate beyond left and right politics. but yes, no referendum questions is devastating to the ability to attract talent, to attract investment, all those things that Alberta talks about all the time.

[00:21:33]So, this is not a game without consequence and cost, especially when you're dealing with folks like Mr. Parker who are very comfortable running these >> conspiracy, stolen election, rigged evil type narratives and running them within now a voter list of everybody's contact, which is just so dangerous.

[00:21:51]>> Yeah. Look, if you think getting a pipeline to the coast through a reluctant province is hard, try to do it through a foreign country, right? That's an entirely different thing. Uh Cameron, your your last thoughts on this and then Peters, and I want to move on to what's happening in Ontario.

[00:22:02]>> Well, just quickly, you said something earlier, David, about how uh you know, advocating for a more for the sovereignty of a province or a region is legitimate and that can be debated. As a diehard federalist from Quebec, uh I agree with that. So I so I think the way we're talking about this issue right now has to be specifically about this issue about what happened here and what the risk is for people and whether how it contravenes or may contravene u the rules and people's rights and privacy.

[00:22:30]Um but but when it comes to the bigger question about about Alberta sovereignty, it has to be the the debate for federalists has to be one on its merits and has the most compelling argument has to be made that it is better to stay in Canada for all these reasons. And uh we se we have to separate that I think from this very serious sideshow essentially that that is that is occurring right now. But it's a it's a sideshow with extremely uh dangerous potentially consequences for the country. Yeah, there's a collision impact and and I take your point like Jacqu Periso didn't dox westmount, right? This is a different kind of thing. Peter, your thoughts on this. I want to move on to what Nerk Smith said.

[00:23:06]Yeah, I completely agree with what's just been said uh particularly on the dire consequences when it comes to something as serious as separatism. But also uh picking up on on the fact that you know driving down voter participation, voter suppression is also sadly something that has been weaponized along with the use of data, along with vilifying your opposition, vilifying institutions. We've seen that and and one of the age-old tactics is to come out strong accusing others of doing exactly what you're doing in your campaign as a strategy. That's something that uh Mr. Parker seems to be very good at. So all of this taken at its whole is is something that has to be taken uh very seriously and there has to be action because you know I'm I'm repeating myself by saying this but if there is no consequence if there is no actual follow through on uh you know the RCMP the courts um elections Alberta doing their job then then this is going to continue and and it will expand and and can you know have uh have an out, you know, an outcome that nobody wants that will dissuade people from participating. You know, not to sound polyianish, but we absolutely need to protect democracy with all our force. We saw what happened with the truckers movement and you know the government of Canada coming under scrutiny for having taken unusual steps in invoking the emergencies act using uh you know questionable tactics to seize bank accounts and the Supreme Court of Canada had to step in and say no that was not appropriate in the circumstances. So this makes it all the way to the top.

[00:24:51]It's it's made its way into government.

[00:24:53]It's made its way into the courts the institutions. Canadians, I think, are sometimes baffled that things have really sort of found, you know, found their way to uh to elections as well as everything else and are having such an impact on people's lives.

[00:25:11]>> Peter, correct if I'm wrong, the Supreme Court of Canada hasn't weighed in yet on the Emergencies Act. It's going there.

[00:25:15]Was the federal court, right? Am I right on that? Is you're right. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:18]No, it's just I can't correct it. It was the federal court. Okay. Because that it's under appeal.

[00:25:23]>> Yeah. Because I know it was off, but I don't think I missed that. Okay.