During question period on Wednesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith defended the presence of a senior caucus staff member on an online call with a separatist group that has been accused of leaking the province's voter data list. The controversy continues to draw sharp questions from Opposition New Democrats (NDP).
Background of the Incident
On Tuesday, the NDP presented screenshots from an April 16 video meeting hosted by the Centurion Project. The screenshots showed the name of Arundeep Sandhu, the UCP caucus office's director of stakeholder relations, as an attendee. Elections Alberta believes the voter list shared with Centurion was the same version provided to the Republican Party of Alberta.
Inside the legislature, Official Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi questioned why Sandhu was present, whether he informed Smith about the meeting's discussions, and why the government did not take action after learning of the video. Smith responded by noting that part of Sandhu's role involves opposition research and pointed out that an NDP staff member also appeared to be present at the same event.
Smith's Defense and Counterarguments
Smith argued that Sandhu had no way of knowing the data was illegal, as this was not disclosed during the call. She also criticized Nenshi for not sharing news of the breach with the government sooner. "Clearly, there were people at that meeting who told him," Smith said. "Why didn't he tell the government?"
Nenshi replied that it is not the Opposition's duty to inform the government, especially when a senior staffer of the governing party was on the same call. He expressed disbelief that a seasoned conservative political staffer would consider it acceptable for Jason Kenney's personal information to be released, referencing a part of the video where the Centurion app allegedly demonstrated by looking up the former premier's address.
Legal and Procedural Developments
Former Premier Jason Kenney posted on social media that he is retaining legal counsel over the incident. Following question period, government house leader Joseph Schow raised a point of privilege regarding Nenshi's choice not to share news of the Centurion video call with MLAs over four sitting days. Schow claimed this had "compromised the right of the individual members of the assembly to be free from obstruction, interference, intimidation and molestation."
Nenshi is expected to respond to Schow's motion on Thursday. Earlier, Nenshi stated that the NDP reported the video to the RCMP and questioned why the UCP failed to do the same. The Premier's office has not yet commented on whether the UCP reported the incident to law enforcement.
