O'Toole campaign asks police to investigate MacKay's campaign for allegedly hacking internal data, videos
OTTAWA — Erin O’Toole’s Conservative leadership campaign is asking police to investigate the team of his chief rival Peter MacKay for allegedly obtaining “stolen” internal campaign data and video strategy conferences from O’Toole’s campaign.
The O’Toole campaign says it is filing requests for investigation to the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and the Toronto police due to overlapping jurisdictions. Its complaint names an alleged senior organizer with MacKay’s campaign. It alleges the organizer obtained “confidential O’Toole log-in information,” but does not specify how that may have been done.
The allegations in O’Toole’s statement have not been proven, and MacKay’s campaign spokesperson Chisholm Pothier dismissed it as an accusation coming “late on a Friday of a bad week for the O’Toole campaign.”
“If someone from the O’Toole campaign leaked information, the O’Toole campaign should be talking to their volunteers,” Pothier said. “It is not surprising that this is a tactic being trotted out the same week that Erin O’Toole performed very poorly in the debates in front of Party members and Canadians.”
The organizer did not respond to multiple voicemails and a text message sent on Friday. MacKay’s team confirmed the man was a volunteer with the campaign but did not specific his role.
O’Toole’s campaign said it filed its complaint to the police forces on Friday.
“Today, the Erin O’Toole campaign is filing a formal complaint and request of investigation with the RCMP, OPP, and Toronto Police Service against the Peter MacKay campaign and (a) senior MacKay campaign organizer,” said a statement provided to the National Post.
“The complaint involves the theft of confidential O’Toole campaign data and strategy, including specifically the theft of Zoom video conferences, including confidential campaign strategy video conferences, and of video conferences with Conservative Party members across Canada. The complaint comes after an in depth investigation was launched by the O’Toole campaign after we discovered our systems were hacked earlier this week.”
O’Toole’s campaign says their investigation found that the organizer “obtained confidential O’Toole log-in information on June 5.”
“The O’Toole investigation found that the stolen downloads occurred over the past two weeks on June 5, 7, 8, 9 , 11 and 12 from both Calgary and Toronto,” says the statement. “The O’Toole investigation was thorough and clinical and included data collection and in-person interviews. All information obtained over the course of the investigation has been provided to the RCMP and Elections Canada.”
The in-person interviews included about a dozen staff and “in-depth conversations with our technical team and service providers,” campaign spokesperson Melanie Paradis said.
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The complaint alleges theft, interception of communication, and unlawful use of a computer. It alleges that “private video and audio communication has been intercepted and distributed,” and that “private contact information and details have been accessed, downloaded and disseminated, all without the consent or knowledge of any of the individuals on the video or audio.”
In its statement, O’Toole’s campaign calls for MacKay’s campaign team “to immediately return and delete any stolen data or videos currently in the possession of staff and volunteers.” It also calls for “swift cooperation” by MacKay’s team with investigating authorities, “and the immediate termination of all involved in this potentially criminal action from their campaign.”
In his statement, Pothier called the accusation from O’Toole’s campaign “mildly amusing.”
“Their campaign telegraphed immediately after the debates that they had given up on their unity message and were going to tear down their opponents as a desperate, last ditch strategy,” he said.
• Email: bplatt@postmedia.com | Twitter: btaplatt
