Albertans want more safeguards for voter information held by political parties: poll
Posted June 3, 2026 3:14 pm.
Most Albertans believe political parties in the province must be better at protecting their voter information, according to a new poll.
Two-thirds of Albertans say political parties should have a legal duty to protect that information against unauthorized access or misuse; and to notify affected individuals and the appropriate regulator when voter information is breached.
Sixty-three per cent believe there should be penalties for serious misuse.
The online poll of 801 Albertans – carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) – was conducted two weeks after members of the public learned of the alleged breach of an official Elections Alberta voter list containing their personal information.
The survey also found more than half of Albertans (54 per cent) believe individuals should have a legal right to request that inaccurate personal information held for political purposes be corrected, or that information no longer needed for an authorized purpose be deleted.
Alberta’s privacy commissioner, which is investigating the alleged leak, says she was encouraged by the results of the poll.
“This is the worst breach in Canadian history involving voter data,” said commissioner Diane McLeod in a news release. “We know that many Albertans are angry and extremely frustrated about what has happened, and some even fear for their safety. My office has received nearly 400 emails and phone calls about this breach. Many have expressed a loss of confidence in the ability of political parties to protect their personal information.”
The Centurion Project, a pro-separatist group, is alleged to have published the personal information of nearly three million Albertans in a database accessible to all. David Parker, the project’s founder, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, initially claiming he obtained the personal information from a phonebook.
BACKGROUND: RCMP investigating Alberta voter info published by separatists, as injunction granted to shutter database
Elections Alberta believes the list was originally given legally to the pro-independence Republican Party of Alberta. Investigators probed the database published by the Centurion Project and matched the fake names to a list given to the Republican Party in 2025, a lawyer for Elections Alberta told a judge in April.
The database was taken down at the end of that month following a court order.
The Ipsos poll found most Albertans (84 per cent) want political parties to have the same private-sector privacy laws as other organizations.
McLeod says her office has long been calling for the province’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) to include political parties.
“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 to uphold these rights,” McLeod wrote.
“Political parties should work with privacy commissioners to develop a framework to be applied across Canada. Canadians’ privacy should be protected to a common, acceptable level when it comes to political party activities, no matter where they are being carried out or by whom. This will serve to instill confidence in voters that their personal information will be managed responsibly.”
The poll also asked Albertans to select their preferred oversight approach if voter information held by political parties was breached. Nearly half of respondents (48 per cent) want elections agencies and privacy commissioners to have the authority to investigate and “refer serious cases for penalties.”
Additional findings from the poll are available here.
Ipsos surveyed 801 Albertan adults online between May 22-26. The poll is accurate to within +/ -4.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
