The Globe’s Carrie Tait, Grant Robertson, and Nathan Vanderklippe, bring us a deep dive into the infamous Centurion Project. Albertans know this as David Parker’s operation which resulted in the theft of detailed private identifying data of over 2 million Albertans that came to light in May 2026. Canadians were rocked at essentially one of the most severe data breaches in the country’s history, carried out by separatists who engaged in alleged meetings with US government officials to discuss Canadian resources - among other things.

Parker’s separatist motives are clear enough. But, his use of this American 10X Votes software is an Information Operation to data mine the personal identifying data of Canadians to manipulate public sentiment and generate what looks to be probable US affiliated propaganda within Canada.

Canadians have already seen these types of Information Operations thanks to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook/Meta. We’re being subjected to more invasive thefts of data carried out by these home grown operators, such as Parker. In turn, the data is explicitly used for surveillance, seeking out Canadians with mixed views who otherwise would be left to make decisions for themselves. Parker’s surveillance system hopes to forcefully turn these people over to a desired message.

Truly, I suspect with many that the Centurion Project breach is a remarkable violation of Canadian privacy, and the motives behind such brazen theft include Alberta separation.

Thanks to this deep dive, Canadians learn more of characters like Jeff Rath, a lawyer accused of withholding trust funds from his First Nations clients, and leveraging litigation carried out by his law office to litigation speculation companies in the US. A lawyer is basically letting people gamble and speculate on his own private files. But perhaps he’s only consistent when Rath allegedly goes to the US to discuss the hand off of Canadians, and land, that do not belong to him.

David Parker, an organizer for Alberta separation, brokered the meeting and championed the software. Known as 10X Votes, it mines voter lists to identify communities of like-minded people that could be mobilized to potentially swing elections.

“I was blown away by what this can do,” Mr. Parker told a separatist meeting in Edmonton in April, according to video footage of the presentation, where he demonstrated a version adapted for use in Alberta.

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At the same time, Alberta sovereignty has become a talking point for senior American leaders and influential conservative voices, giving legitimacy to a separatist cause that might otherwise have been a fringe provincial movement.

Among those U.S. voices are Drew Born and Drew Wierda, the Michigan-based founders of 10X Votes, whose families are well-known Republican royalty.

Mr. Wierda was one of the representatives in the meeting in Calgary, according to Mr. Hartzler, who identified him from a photograph. Meanwhile, Mr. Born, who hails from an influential and wealthy family of Republican donors, has openly called for the U.S. annexation of Alberta.

“I pray daily this happens,” Mr. Born wrote on social media in August, regarding Alberta separating from Canada.

“Me too,” Mr. Parker responded.

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An independent Alberta could even offer fresh water to the U.S., Dennis Modry, a former Alberta heart surgeon who is co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project, said in an interview.

“We just brought up water as a possible issue. Does the U.S. need more water? Can Alberta provide some more water to them?” said Dr. Modry.

Some of the ideas were contained in a document that, Dr. Modry said, put into writing “the potential benefits of Alberta sovereignty to the United States of America – and to Alberta.”

That document was delivered to U.S. officials last year. The separatists met with them at the Harry S. Truman building, the headquarters of the State Department, on April 22, Sept. 29 and Dec. 16.

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At the same time, Mr. Rath believes the Albertans’ overtures to Washington have won attention at the highest levels of American power. In January, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described a “wealth of natural resources” in Alberta, which he said had been trapped by domestic opposition to a Pacific pipeline.

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But Dr. Modry’s proposals suggested numerous other ways to thrust an independent Alberta deep into the sphere of American influence, from the very first days of separation from Canada.

Alberta could seek U.S. help in its transition to become an independent country, Dr. Modry said. That could include a swap line or line of credit to finance the shift.

Converting Albertans’ cash holdings to the U.S. dollar would leave the government of an independent Alberta in further debt.

To make Washington whole, Dr. Modry suggested new oil export pipelines through the U.S., perhaps built with a royalty payable to the U.S. on barrels moved south. Such a deal would upend the traditional structure of petroleum extraction, in which royalties flow to the owner of the resource.

It might also be possible to provide a right of way for a rail line to Alaska, an idea Mr. Trump had endorsed during his first administration that never got off the ground.

“Oil royalties or land access for that rail line – there’s all kinds of different permutations and combinations to repay that debt,” Dr. Modry said.

A White House official declined comment on the meetings. “Administration officials meet with a number of civil society groups,” the official said. “No support or commitments were conveyed.”

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One of the key figures behind the Michigan software company has expressed strong views on Alberta.

On July 1, Mr. Born wrote on social media: “On this Canada Day, I hope this is the last year Alberta is part of Canada.” He has also called for U.S. annexation of the province.

A hunter, outdoorsman and commercial real estate agent in Grand Rapids, Mr. Born is the stepson of J.C. Huizenga, a wealthy Republican donor and founder of National Heritage Academies, a network of conservative charter schools in the U.S.

Mr. Wierda is the nephew of Erik Prince, who founded and ran the private military contractor Blackwater before it was sold to investors in 2010, and Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Mr. Trump’s first term.

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The traditional campaign method is time-consuming and, Mr. Sylvestre told The Globe, does not necessarily yield accurate results because some Albertans are afraid to disclose their support for secession on the porch. It also leaves volunteers vulnerable to verbal abuse, he said.

But the meeting made him uncomfortable.

“All somebody had to tell me was they flew in from the U.S. on a private jet to talk to me and our group,” he said. “All the bells are screaming and ringing in my ear. ‘Oh, what’s happening here. Why are you here?’”

At the meeting, the 10X Votes delegation demonstrated how the program works, but Mr. Sylvestre and Mr. Hartzler said they could not answer a key question: How would 10X Votes propagate a database in anticipation of an Alberta referendum on separation?

Both said Mr. Parker proposed using the Alberta Prosperity Project’s list of supporters. The database exploded from about 50,000 names to 250,000 in the 10 days after Mark Carney led the federal Liberal Party to victory in April, 2025, Mr. Sylvestre said.

The meeting ended without a resolution, but Mr. Sylvestre, who had privacy concerns about the software, later told Mr. Parker that the Alberta Prosperity Project’s list was off the table.

“He yelled at me because I wouldn’t commit all of my membership to be on that list of his,” Mr. Sylvestre said of Mr. Parker. “And I said: ‘Not a chance in hell you’re getting my list.’”

“Because I know that this is not right,” Mr. Sylvestre said in an interview. “There’s something really wrong with this.”

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During show-and-tell sessions posted online, the Centurion Project organizers revealed home addresses for former premiers Mr. Kenney and Ms. Notley – two politicians despised by ardent separatists – as a way to tout the software’s power.

After identifying people they knew from the database, users filled out a short survey about their acquaintances’ views on separation. They were then responsible for making sure anyone they flagged as pro-independence showed up at the polls on referendum day.

Mr. Parker encouraged separatists to enlist like-minded people to sign up for the Centurion Project, and identify more potential supporters, generating a multiplying effect.

But he was vague about the source of the database in an April text exchange with The Globe.

“It’s a collection of sources. You can rent it off Canada Post, but they were more expensive,” he said, claiming the Centurion Project’s information cost 11 cents per name. “I actually feel like I got a great deal.”

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The Globe and Mail, which registered for the Centurion Project using a company e-mail address, discovered a security vulnerability that gave users access to the main directory that the whole system was based on.

It was, according to The Globe’s analysis, the master list of eligible voters for the province – or very close to one.

As The Globe first reported in April, the Centurion Project’s database contained names and addresses for 2,957,857 Albertans, once apparent duplicate entries were removed.

By way of comparison, Elections Alberta’s list of electors tallied 2,966,192 eligible voters across the province in May, 2025, when the head count was last updated.

Further, The Globe found the Centurion Project’s underlying database contained a trove of highly sensitive personal information beyond what casual users could easily access, including middle names, unique electoral identification numbers and 2,083,175 phone numbers.