Liberals allege former MLA who switched to PCs committed privacy breach

Nova Scotia's Liberal Party says a former MLA who crossed the floor to the governing Tories two days ago "accessed and misappropriated files" that contained "sensitive and personal and propriety information" that belonged to the party.

In a news release issued Thursday, the Liberals said Northside-Westmount MLA Fred Tilley did this on Sunday, "presumably with the knowledge that he would use this information in his campaign as a Conservative in the upcoming snap election."

A provincial election is expected to be called soon.

"This is a serious violation of the privacy of the electors in Northside-Westmount, as well as sensitive Nova Scotia Liberal Party data and one the party takes seriously," party president Margaret Miller said in the statement.

"Nearly 2,500 people in the Northside-Westmount area have been affected by the calculated and unethical actions by Mr. Tilley."

Liberals want RCMP, Elections Nova Scotia to investigate

The party statement also said it has contacted the RCMP and Elections Nova Scotia and asked them to conduct investigations.

Elections Nova Scotia spokesperson Naomi Shelton told CBC News the organization has nothing to do with internal security breaches. She said Elections Nova Scotia supplies parties with guidelines on how to protect voter information and that it's up to the parties to keep that information safe.

In a statement, RCMP said they have opened a file on the matter.

The Liberals said they will contact the people affected by the breach.

Along with the statement, the Liberals provided a screenshot of party files they say shows proof Tilley accessed them on Sunday.

Tilley, in a statement issued through the PCs, said he would co-operate with an RCMP investigation.

"It is unfortunate that the Liberal leader is attempting to weaponize the justice system to settle a political score," he wrote.

On Friday afternoon, the premier's office sent an additional statement from Tilley.

"At no point did I access Liberal information after leaving the party. Since leaving the party I have not used or shared any lists or information," he said. 

He did not, however, address the Liberal accusation that he accessed the files two days before he left the party.

Premier's reaction

Speaking at a local chamber of commerce luncheon at the Old Orchard Inn near Wolfville, N.S., Premier Tim Houston downplayed the severity of the Liberals' allegations.

"This is another stunt from a desperate party and party leader," he said.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill called the premier's comments hypocritical.

"The premier took thefts seriously when it was in his own riding association, when money was stolen from him," said Churchill.

"He gave us hell for not reporting theft of money in our party soon enough to the RCMP and now that there's theft of people's personal data, he's going to brush it off?

"That's incredibly hypocritical. This is a serious issue."

Churchill said the breach would have included information such as people's names, phone numbers and addresses.

Why Tilley left the Liberals

On Tuesday, Tilley announced he was leaving the Liberals. He said the government's willingness to act on opposition proposals, such as funding continuous glucose monitor devices, indexing income tax brackets and indexing income assistance payments to the rate of inflation, made it increasingly difficult to criticize the government.

Tilley also said he wants to be in cabinet, and told the premier that while the two were talking in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, Churchill called Tilley's departure a betrayal.

"Fred was in a position of trust and leadership in our caucus," he told reporters at Province House.

"He's the chair of our caucus. He's been helping us prepare for a campaign, so certainly to have this happen on what sounds like the eve of an election campaign is certainly a big blow to us."

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