Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally breached election law, investigation finds

EDMONTON – An investigation has found Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally violated an election law in his official response to a recall petition targeting him, but he was spared any penalty. 

Nally accessed a confidential list of electors for “a purpose not authorized by the Election Act,” Elections Alberta commissioner Paula Hale wrote in a letter dated Thursday.

However, she said there is ambiguity about whether the use of the list would have been appropriate in the circumstances and closed the file without issuing a letter of reprimand or an administrative penalty against Nally. 

“Instead, Minister Nally was provided advice to support future use of the List of Electors,” she wrote. 

The letter was addressed to Deirdre MacLean, who filed the complaint. She wasn’t immediately available for an interview Friday.

In November, the United Conservative Party politician publicly claimed the constituent behind the effort to recall him didn’t vote in the last election and questioned whether that should disqualify the petition.

The Opposition NDP raised concern about the use of the confidential list from Elections Alberta. 

The petitioner, Joshua Eberhart, said Friday that he wasn’t aware a complaint had been filed.

He said he was going to file one but was waiting for financial statements to be accepted by Elections Alberta to finalize the recall process against Nally. 

Last month, Elections Alberta announced the recall against Nally was unsuccessful. About 2,600 signatures were gathered, a fraction of the required 15,700. 

Eberhart said since it was his voter information that was accessed, he would have liked to have been involved in the complaint against Nally. 

“I understand that there are people out there other than myself who are frustrated with this UCP government and some of the actions that they take, which in this case includes the putting voter information out into the public,” he said in an interview.

“So I appreciate that other people want to do what they can to ensure that this government is held accountable, but I was a little bit taken aback and do wish that I played a role in the process.”

At the time, Premier Danielle Smith came to Nally’s defence in the assembly, saying he was mistaken in claiming the constituent didn’t vote and brushed aside calls to have him stripped of his responsibilities.

Eberhart said he was also concerned about Smith using his private voter information publicly, adding that he wondered if she also searched for him in the list of electors.

“It’s troublesome to me,” he said. “MLAs seem to be willing to go and look at these types of information and make off-the-cuff comments.”

Eberhart said he wanted Nally to face a penalty for sharing his voter information.

“I, as a layperson, know that I shouldn’t go disclose other people’s personal and confidential information publicly,” he said. “For him to not realize that is kind of nonsense.”

Nally said in a statement Friday that he will follow Elections Alberta’s advice on future use of the electors’ list.

“I have no further comment at this time,” he said. 

A spokesperson for Elections Alberta said in a statement it is prohibited from commenting on its investigative activities. 

Rakhi Pancholi, deputy leader of the NDP Opposition, criticized Nally for accessing information “he shouldn’t have about a constituent so he could try to publicly discredit him.”

“This is not just about how thin-skinned this minister is, but how entitled the UCP feels to do whatever they want to silence opposition, including their own constituents,” Pancholi said in a statement.

In the petition against Nally, Eberhart said the minister has not been listening to constituents. He also said using the Charter’s notwithstanding to end a provincewide teachers strike “reflects an overreach by the UCP government, of which Dale Nally is a part.”

Nally’s response included that he was being targeted by a “left-wing activist group weaponizing recall legislation to target UCP MLAs and provoke a general election.”

All two dozen petitions launched against Smith and members of her UCP caucus since late last year have fallen short or been withdrawn. 

Two recalls petitions against NDP members have failed, with one against MLA Marie Renaud still active. 

One targeting Progressive Tory Party Leader Peter Guthrie is also still underway. 

The citizen-led petitions launched last year marked the first time Alberta’s Recall Act had been used on provincial politicians. It was brought in under former UCP premier Jason Kenney to empower citizens and hold politicians accountable between general elections.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2026.

— With files from Lisa Johnson and Jack Farrell in Edmonton