Premier Of Alberta Smith weighs changes after Elections Alberta probe
Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith is facing questions after Elections Alberta said a 2025 law change stopped it from opening an investigation when it received an early tip about alleged misuse of personal information tied to the Centurion Project. The agency said the complaint from journalist Jen Gerson arrived on March 31, but the new threshold blocked a probe at that stage.
Michelle Gurney said Elections Alberta now has to meet a higher legal standard before it can investigate, one that requires “reasonable grounds to believe an offence has occurred.” The agency said it later obtained credible information on April 27 about access to a list of electors that had been lawfully provided to a registered political party.
Smith and Elections Alberta
Smith said Friday morning that her government will wait for the results of the investigations before commenting further and will then assess whether any future legislative changes need to be considered. Sam Blackett, speaking for the Premier, said the office will wait for the findings from Elections Alberta and the RCMP before taking that next step.
Elections Alberta and the RCMP each issued separate statements on Thursday saying they are probing the alleged misuse of the list of electors. The agency said the information at issue may have affected 2.9 million residents.
Gurney’s March 31 tip
Gurney emailed Elections Alberta on March 31 about a possible violation involving the Centurion Project. Paula Hale responded on April 10 and said “there are not reasonable grounds to allow me to direct an investigation,” leaving the complaint without an inquiry under the standard then in force.
Gurney said in her Friday statement that “Elections Alberta is held to a very high standard on what we can and cannot investigate.” She added, “This is similar to the amount of evidence that, in a criminal matter, police would need to have to arrest someone,” and said the reasonable-grounds test is “a much higher standard than ‘grounds to warrant’ (which was our previous old standard), or ‘what might seem obvious’ based on a complainant’s suspicions or beliefs.”
2025 Election Finances Act
The reasonable-grounds provision was added to the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act in 2025, after Smith’s government raised the threshold for Elections Alberta investigations. That change now sits at the center of the agency’s explanation for why it could not act immediately on Gerson’s tip, even as it later moved forward with its own probe and the RCMP began a separate one.
For residents whose personal information may have been included in the material tied to the Centurion Project, the practical issue is whether an initial complaint can trigger action quickly enough to stop further use of election data. Elections Alberta’s account shows the answer now depends on meeting a stronger evidentiary test before investigators can start.
