If you want to understand just how much damage social media can do - read on.

By Pepper Parr

May 4th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

If you want to understand just how much damage social media can do – read on.

Writing in a column for the Toronto Star, Susan Delacourt said:

It could be easy to get complacent about a looming Alberta independence referendum — polls show that most Albertans prefer to remain in Canada and hey, we’ve had referendums before in Canada, including two on Quebec independence.

The referendum in 1995 was a battle to keep Quebec in Canada but also to keep Canada a multicultural country.

But those referendums were held before social media and other data-management technology paved the way for rampant disinformation and privacy compromises. They were also not held in the shadow of Donald Trump, whose own national security strategy, published earlier this year, claimed the right to interfere in politics of the Western Hemisphere to assert U.S. dominance even outside its borders.

Last week, CSIS reported that foreign interference in Canadian democracy is very much alive and growing ever more complex each year. The report didn’t flag anything substantial coming from the U.S., but is anyone ruling that out?

The Alberta Separation referendum has given US President a wedge that he can use to achieve his 51st state dream.

Earlier this year there was a flurry of attention to what Trump could get out of Alberta independence, when it was revealed that Alberta separatists had held meetings with people close to the White House and when U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said openly that Alberta is a “natural partner” for the United States.

But that attention kind of died down until late last week with the news of this data breach.

Carney is right to be deeply concerned. It has been said that Alberta independence was much on his mind when he embarked on what’s known as the memo of understanding on pipelines and climate with Premier Danielle Smith’s government.

We also shouldn’t forget that Carney lived through the Brexit drama when he headed the Bank of England, and saw how quickly a separation movement took off, even as people were saying Britain would never leave the European Union.

The United Kingdom has yet to recover from the Brexit experience.

Carney likely knows that an Alberta independence referendum, in this day and age, would bear more resemblance to Brexit than any of the Quebec sovereignty votes of the past century. He would also have some vivid memories of the role that data played in that vote, notably by the Cambridge Analytica firm (which also helped in Trump’s 2016 victory, for those who may have forgotten.)

Canada does have foreign influence watchdog now after the initiative was stalled for years. His name is Anton Boegman, and he’s a former chief electoral officer in British Columbia.

Earlier this year, Boegman told CBC News that he believed his mandate extended to provincial politics too, including referendums held there. Alberta could be the first big test for him and his office. And the Centurion leak, we can hope, is a big warning flag for what he — and this country’s unity — could be up against.