🇨🇦 Carney lectures Alberta over data leak while separatists collect 300,000 signatures

Prime Minister Mark Carney took time out of his meeting with Danielle Smith to scold her about a voter data breach involving Alberta's separatist movement—never mind that Elections Alberta, the privacy commissioner, and the RCMP are already investigating. The real story buried in the piece: the Centurion Project and Republican Party of Alberta just blew past the 178,000-signature threshold needed to force an independence referendum, hitting over 300,000 names. Former premier Jason Kenney is changing his security protocols because his info may have been accessed.

Carney wants appropriate action taken against those responsible, but the real question is what drove hundreds of thousands of Albertans to sign a secession petition in the first place. Ottawa's energy policies, transfer payments, and condescension have consequences. Smith is right to let investigators do their work—Carney should worry less about voter lists and more about why Alberta wants out.

🍁 Maple Chronicles