Alberta's energy regulator broke provincial privacy law when it hired private investigators to collect personal information on landowners opposed to a 500-kilovolt power line, according to a report by the province's privacy commissioner.

The report, released September 13, says the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) didn't have the authority to collect information on landowners, nor was that information necessary to maintain safety at the May power line hearings in Rimbey.

Several days later, a retired judge prepared his own government-commissioned report. Released September 17, Del Perras’s report says the "security arrangements for the most part were appropriate and prudent given the risk" posed by frustrated landowners. However, he also said it was “repulsive” for EUB-hired investigators to listen in on a landowner conference call.

Joe Anglin, vice-chair of the Lavesta landowners group, says he’s disappointed with both reports. “We always felt and still feel that this is a fabrication of a security threat,” says Anglin. The Lavesta group, the Sierra Club and the provincial Liberals are all calling for a public inquiry into the spying.