The federal Green Party posted sensitive and personal information of its members and supporters online. Tens of thousands of names, phone numbers, birthdates, and addresses were left available on online, violating its own internal rules.On its website, the party promises voters it uses "safeguards" against the unauthorized use, sharing, loss or theft of its information. The CBC found personal information of its members was stored in the cloud in a Google Drive.The information was contained in spreadsheets marked "voters list" that belonged to several Green leadership candidates, including former leaders Amita Kuttner and Annamie Paul.After the Green Party was contacted about the Google Drive, it immediately restricted access."The information you refer to was never meant to be publicly available and has now been removed," said Executive Director Kevin Dunbar."We take data security seriously and have already begun investigations into how it ended up in a publicly available section of our website."While the Greens violated its own privacy police, they likely haven't broken any laws as federal information and privacy laws don't apply to federal parties. While Canada's Elections Act requires all political parties to develop privacy policies, they face no consequences for violating them.This is not the first time the Greens posted the personal information of voters. In 2019, the party removed training videos that contained voters' personal information from a Google Drive. The party later apologized.The Green Party faced extreme turmoil in the last few years, being haunted by allegations of racism, sexism and abuse. The party has also been bleeding cash, with its annual report warning last July it may need to mothball its headquarters in downtown Ottawa and freeze spending.Noah Zatzman, a senior advisor for former party leader Annamie Paul, told the Western Standard back in September 2022 the party was "on the verge of collapse."READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Green Party 'on the verge of collapse' as president resigns and MPs threaten to leaveAt that time, several members of the Greens' federal council recently resigned, interim party leader Kuttner had "lawyered up," and there was talk of a campaign to form a new Green Party. The Greens' President Lorraine Rekmans had also recently quit in frustration, claiming the "dream is dead."Former leader Elizabeth May once again became the party leader in November 2022. If Green Party members vote to make a constitutional change to the leadership structure, then May and her Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault will both become co-leaders.“We are in the process of rebuilding the party," May said on Monday. "There’s no mistake about that,” May said
The federal Green Party posted sensitive and personal information of its members and supporters online. Tens of thousands of names, phone numbers, birthdates, and addresses were left available on online, violating its own internal rules.On its website, the party promises voters it uses "safeguards" against the unauthorized use, sharing, loss or theft of its information. The CBC found personal information of its members was stored in the cloud in a Google Drive.The information was contained in spreadsheets marked "voters list" that belonged to several Green leadership candidates, including former leaders Amita Kuttner and Annamie Paul.After the Green Party was contacted about the Google Drive, it immediately restricted access."The information you refer to was never meant to be publicly available and has now been removed," said Executive Director Kevin Dunbar."We take data security seriously and have already begun investigations into how it ended up in a publicly available section of our website."While the Greens violated its own privacy police, they likely haven't broken any laws as federal information and privacy laws don't apply to federal parties. While Canada's Elections Act requires all political parties to develop privacy policies, they face no consequences for violating them.This is not the first time the Greens posted the personal information of voters. In 2019, the party removed training videos that contained voters' personal information from a Google Drive. The party later apologized.The Green Party faced extreme turmoil in the last few years, being haunted by allegations of racism, sexism and abuse. The party has also been bleeding cash, with its annual report warning last July it may need to mothball its headquarters in downtown Ottawa and freeze spending.Noah Zatzman, a senior advisor for former party leader Annamie Paul, told the Western Standard back in September 2022 the party was "on the verge of collapse."READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Green Party 'on the verge of collapse' as president resigns and MPs threaten to leaveAt that time, several members of the Greens' federal council recently resigned, interim party leader Kuttner had "lawyered up," and there was talk of a campaign to form a new Green Party. The Greens' President Lorraine Rekmans had also recently quit in frustration, claiming the "dream is dead."Former leader Elizabeth May once again became the party leader in November 2022. If Green Party members vote to make a constitutional change to the leadership structure, then May and her Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault will both become co-leaders.“We are in the process of rebuilding the party," May said on Monday. "There’s no mistake about that,” May said
