Letter to Premier Smith: Place Political Parties Under Privacy Law
More than 15 organizations and experts are calling on Premier Smith to bring Alberta’s political parties under sensible data protection, oversight, and accountability rules.
June 2, 2026 – A recent data breach involving the Centurion Project exposed the personal information of 2.9 million Albertans — nearly the entire provincial electorate. The incident highlights a major gap in Alberta’s privacy protections: while businesses, and public sector organizations must follow Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), political parties are not covered by the Act.
That means political parties in Alberta can collect and use your sensitive personal information without being subject to the same privacy rules, independent oversight, or accountability measures that apply to other organizations. It also means Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has no clear authority to investigate political parties when privacy breaches occur. This problem with Alberta’s PIPA mirrors problems with federal privacy law, which excludes political parties from common obligations across many but not all other provinces.
In an open letter to Premier Danielle Smith, Minister of Justice Mickey Amery, and Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally, a coalition of civil liberties, digital rights, and privacy advocates are arguing that the Centurion Project breach shows why this loophole must be closed.
The signatories are calling on the Alberta government to:
- Bring provincial political parties under PIPA;
- Give the Information and Privacy Commissioner clear authority to investigate and enforce privacy rules when parties mishandle personal information;
- Introduce these reforms during the current sitting of the Legislative Assembly;
- Work with the Commissioner’s office to ensure the changes provide meaningful protections for Albertans.
Bringing political parties under PIPA would help ensure Albertans have the same privacy rights when dealing with political parties as they do when dealing with businesses and other organizations. It would require parties to protect personal information, notify people when breaches occur, limit how personal information is used and shared, and allow voters to access and correct information held about them. If another breach like the recent breach occurred, it would ensure everyone responsible could be rapidly investigated and punished.
This is not a radical proposal. Political parties in British Columbia are already subject to privacy law, and similar protections exist in democratic jurisdictions like the UK, New Zealand, and the EU. Polling also shows overwhelming public support for reform, with a clear super majority of Albertans believing political parties should follow the same privacy rules as everyone else.
Albertans should not have weaker privacy protections for their data simply because an organization is political!
Read the full open letter.
Media Contacts
Mike Larsen, President, Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, +1 (604) 739-9788 | [email protected]
Matt Hatfield, Executive Director, OpenMedia +1 (888) 441-2640 ext. 0 | [email protected]
Tamir Israel, Director, Privacy, Surveillance & Technology Program, Canadian Civil Liberties Association | [email protected]