How Did an Alberta Separatist Group Get Its Hands on the Voter List? | The Walrus
At this point, Canadians are witnessing one of the worst crashes on the public stage in history. A UCP embroiled in allegations of corruption with CorruptCare now sees separatist organizations responsible for one of the greatest data leak in Canadian history. Even more concerning is how the separatist organizations are all led by individuals affiliated with the UCP, and in some ways either travel in the same circles as Danielle Smith or have relationships with the Alberta Premier.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery looks to stand nearly at the eye of the hurricane, with allegations of conflicts of interest arising from the Corrupt Care scandals mixing with his role in these legislative amendments leading up to the Elections Alberta Data Leak.
The Walrus’ Patrick Lennox brings a review of events leading up to the Elections Alberta Data Leak, and an opinion of the seriousness of this breach. I’ll share a highlight below. I would add that these amendments to how Elections Alberta operated came at a time when Justice Minister Mickey Amery may have been seen interfering with the active EA investigations upon Sam Mraiche and others in the Corrupt Care scandals.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-justice-minister-sam-mraiche-investigation/
https://archive.ph/bXXb9
https://kopitalk.net/c/canada/p/381433/alberta-justice-minister-curtailed-election-regulator-when-sam-mraiche-was-under-investi
But outrage and disbelief at the civil servants who staff Elections Alberta is misplaced. In May of 2025, after the Liberal Party secured a minority Parliament, the UCP switched into full MAGA mode and started passing legislation that seemed geared to bring on a secession referendum. It also started tinkering in anti-democratic ways with the rules around elections. One example of this—amongst many—was Bill 54, which became the Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2025. It did three things of relevance to this discussion. The first was it set Elections Alberta’s investigative bar beyond that which common citizens’ complaints could reasonably expect to reach.
The response to Gerson is exhibit A. But it could very well be exhibit ZZZ. We know about Gerson’s complaint, because, well, she’s Jen Gerson. We don’t know how many other complaints have been concluded in the same way without investigation because Elections Alberta was unauthorized to investigate.
The second was to make it mandatory for Elections Alberta to inform anyone they were investigating that they were, in fact, investigating them. Combined with the first change, the effect was to cripple the agency by stripping investigators of the ability to conduct discreet inquiries, thus giving targets time to coordinate stories, pressure witnesses, or destroy evidence. A third change limited the length of time Elections Alberta had to investigate a complaint to a single year, down from three.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure warned at the time that this would make things difficult for the regulator. He argued that none of the significant investigations Elections Alberta had conducted over the previous five years would have concluded under the new authorities. He noted in documents sent to Justice Minister Mickey Amery that “we are not aware of any other jurisdiction in Canada that has imposed a similar standard to initiate investigations.” …
runsmooth
runsmooth