Alberta Independent MLA Thomas Dang pleads guilty to health act breach

EDMONTON — An Alberta legislature member charged in a computer hacking investigation has pleaded guilty to a charge under the Health Information Act.

Thomas Dang entered the plea in provincial court Friday, a spokesman for Dang confirmed in a statement.

He is facing a fine and is to be sentenced on Nov. 29.

Dang sits as an Independent member representing Edmonton-South and does not plan to seek re-election in the spring 2023 vote.

He is a former member of the NDP caucus but left almost a year ago when the RCMP began investigating a hack of Alberta's COVID-19 vaccine website.

Dang later admitted to using his computer to follow up on a tip from a constituent about possible loopholes that were allowing access to people's private health information on the website.

He later said that when he ran into roadblocks trying to breach the vaccination site, he used Premier Jason Kenney's birth date and vaccination dates, both publicly available, which allowed him to breach the site's privacy safeguards.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2022