Elections Alberta warned government that legislative changes could hinder future investigations

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Sunny South News

Southern Alberta Newspapers

Elections Alberta says it predicted problems over a year ago that have hindered the investigation into alleged misuse of the electoral list by separatist groups.

The independent agency submitted a letter to the legislature last spring outlining concerns with Bill 54, the Election Statutes Amendment Act, before it was passed.

While Elections Alberta is limited in the information it can provide pertaining to an ongoing investigation, the organization’s recent statement reiterates that those legislative changes made last spring effectively obstructed Elections Alberta’s ability to launch an investigation.

“Under Bill 54, for an investigation to begin, the Election Commissioner will need to be satisfied that a breach of the Legislation has occurred, before they can speak to anyone about the allegation, or gather and review any records,” reads the letter.

“Practically this means that the onus will fall on a complainant to provide a substantively completed investigation in order for the Election Commissioner to look into a matter.”

Elections Alberta argued then the change would “eliminate the majority of the compliance activities” conducted by the agency.

Officials with Elections Alberta confirm that these anticipated obstacles have impacted the present investigation.

The Chief Electoral Officer has directed that the citizen initiative petition verification process be amended.

Elections Alberta will now seek to determine if any of the seeded false names planted in the Republican Party of Alberta’s List of Electors are included among gathered signatures as part of the verification process for pending petitions. This will include the independence referendum petition, which finished collecting signatures on May 2 and reports collecting 302,000.

Should any be discovered, further scrutiny will result.

Elections Alberta also endorsed an April 30 statement from information and privacy commissioner Diane McLeod calling for expansion of privacy legislation to apply to registered political parties.