It’s likely a number of Albertans might not be familiar with the Republican Party — no, not that one.
It’s a small, pro-independence provincial party that ran three candidates in byelections last year, winning a combined 3,000 votes, after having rebranded from a party that ran only one candidate in the last election.
But under the law, the party is entitled to access the data of millions of Albertans, and it has found itself under a spotlight in recent weeks.
Elections Alberta got an injunction ordering Centurion Project, a third party, to take down an online database of voter information — data it says matched a voters list given to the Republican Party in June of last year.
Alberta’s chief electoral officer has filed an application with the court for a permanent injunction to have any copies of the voters list given to the Republican Party destroyed.
Now, veteran political insider Stephen Carter says it’s worth taking another look at the level of access to voter data by smaller political parties in Alberta.
“I think that getting access to the whole list is not necessary. I think that you should get access only to the areas that you’re running a candidate in,” said Carter, president of Decide Campaigns.
“A small party that chooses to run candidates in, let’s say, 25 ridings should really only get access to those 25 ridings of voter information.”
Federal political parties will only get the voters list for ridings in which they have endorsed candidates. However, they can request a full preliminary list, which would not have up-to-date information on those who have died, moved or recently turned 18.
Alberta, like other provinces, allows registered political parties to access the full list.
Premier Danielle Smith has said her government will await the results of the investigations —Elections Alberta, the privacy commissioner and the RCMP are all looking into it — before assessing if future legislative changes need to be made.
Republican Party leader Cameron Davies said in an email the party has “provided several recommendations to Elections Alberta on strengthening existing legislation.”
“We will have more to say on this after their investigation is concluded as we are currently assisting them,” Davies said.
The party was originally registered in 2022 as the Buffalo Party, which ran a single candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona in the 2023 provincial election. Last year, it rebranded as the Republican Party, and ran candidates in the three byelections in June 2025.
Davies said the party is “fully prepared to contest any upcoming election.”
Carter said given the personal information on the voters list, there should be more of a barrier to handing it out to anybody who might happen to have access to a political party.
“It is in the voters’ best interest that parties have access to the data, but it is not in the voters’ best interest to have people who aren’t serving them to have access to their data,” he said.
Restricting access would likely not go over well with some smaller parties, said former Alberta chief electoral officer Lorne Gibson.
“Some of the smaller parties that would get copies of the entire list of electors would probably argue: how can they expand their support if they don’t have the entire list?” said Gibson, who held the position between 2006 and 2009.
Gibson also notes the bar to become a candidate or form a party is not particularly high.
To apply to register in Alberta, the proposed party must have either three seats in the legislature, candidates endorsed in at least half of the ridings for an election, or a petition with 8,819 signatures, representing 0.3 per cent of the eligible electors in the last election.
The former executive director of the Alberta NDP, Garett Spelliscy, says it is fair for small parties to access the full list — so long as they are using it according to the law and in good faith.
“I think that there’s a reasonable case to say that parties have to demonstrate an intent to contest a general election and not just be a sort of pop-up that exists maybe for a byelection or for one cycle, but they have a long-term commitment to being a legitimate political actor in the province,” he said.
Carter says what he would not want to see would be access to the list taken away altogether, as was the case at the municipal level in Calgary. The decision was made to not make it accessible to candidates after concerns were raised about an individual running for mayor.
Carter worked with The Calgary Party in last fall’s municipal election, and said the lack of a list made the campaign more difficult.
“I would hope that we wouldn’t see the same kind of knee-jerk reaction to the voters list being misused in this fashion, but instead would have some sort of measured response whereby the data is still provided,” Carter said.
As a former chief electoral officer, Gibson said maintaining the list of electors is a 365-day-a-year job, and a leak is “something you’re fearful of.”
His preference would be to see the list kept by the electoral body only for the purposes of managing an election.
But he says that idea would likely get a lot of pushback from parties.
“And I think that it would be highly unlikely that a government would amend legislation to prevent themselves from gaining access to that kind of information for their own campaigning,” Gibson said.
How parties access the lists varies a bit province to province, but by and large most registered parties will end up getting the full lists.
Elections Saskatchewan says that during election periods, parties will only receive voters lists for constituencies where they are running a candidate. However, parties can also get annual updates that include the full list.
Elections Quebec provides the full list to registered parties three times a year.
In Ontario, parties can get a full copy, while candidates only get the information for their riding.
The recent data breach in Alberta could serve as a lesson for other provinces.
“The incident that occurred in Alberta gives pause for thought. … We may eventually make recommendations to the legislator to provide better protection for electors,” Elections Quebec said in a statement.
Elections B.C. says it is reviewing its policies to ensure its voters list remains secure in the wake of the situation in Alberta.
Elections Saskatchewan says it will be a topic of discussion in its regular meetings with registered parties.
