OTTAWA — Three Liberal leadership hopefuls could face sanctions for giving the party's confidential membership lists to a newspaper which used the data to conduct a controversial opinion poll on the leadership race.

The Globe and Mail, which published the poll results last week, said it obtained the lists from the campaigns of Stephane Dion, Ken Dryden and Scott Brison, although the latter's camp has since denied any involvement.

Yet each candidate was required to personally sign a declaration of confidentiality before the party handed over the coveted lists of members across the country.

In the declaration, candidates agreed to take "appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality of the personal information on the lists.'' They further agreed that they "will not disclose the lists to anyone outside the Liberal Party of Canada.''

Liberal national director Steven MacKinnon said the party is still investigating the possible breach of confidentiality.

"Needless to say, using our membership lists for anything other than the intended purpose . . . troubles us,'' MacKinnon said.

"Membership lists are the property of the Liberal party and they are not to be disseminated to anybody on whim,'' he added. "We are taking this very seriously.''

MacKinnon would not disclose the nature of the sanctions that could be imposed on candidates deemed to have broken their oath to protect the confidentiality of the lists. But party insiders said punishment options include a private reprimand, a public reprimand, a fine or even disqualification of a candidate, an unlikely option in this case.

Leadership hopeful Joe Volpe said he's not sure what penalty could be imposed but "I'm told they're quite harsh and severe.''

However, Mark Marissen, Dion's campaign director, said his camp received legal advice that it was within the bounds of the agreement to give the membership lists to the Globe strictly for the purpose of conducting a poll.

 He said the paper and pollster, Strategic Counsel, signed declarations ensuring the lists would not be used for any other purpose.

Marissen pointed out that the confidentiality agreement signed by each candidate expressly states that use of the lists by "an outside source'' such as a mailing house or call centre, is allowed, provided that a confidentiality declaration is signed.

Not all rival camps were buying the argument, however. Some noted that campaigns would ordinarily use a call centre to solicit support from members, not to conduct a poll.

If camps did provide the lists to the Globe, Volpe said: "It's in contravention of an agreement that all the campaigns signed.''

 "We all undertook to keep the lists within our respective campaigns and to use them . . . for membership or voting purposes only,'' said Alex Swann, spokesman for former Ontario premier Bob Rae's campaign.

"It was a serious undertaking. We take those things seriously.''

Marissen said the Dryden and Brison camps also provided lists to the Globe. A Dryden spokesperson was unsure but Brison spokesman Dale Palmeter vehemently denied his camp's involvement and said he's demanded an explanation from the newspaper.

"To the knowledge of everyone on our campaign, no one provided the lists,'' he said.

Moreover, Palmeter questioned the results of the poll, which suggested that Rae and Michael Ignatieff were virtually tied when party members were asked who they'd support on the first ballot. Dion was close behind. The poll also suggested that Rae and Dion had the best potential for growth on subsequent ballots.

Brison emerged with only three per cent support but Palmeter said the poll appears to have surveyed very few Liberals in Atlantic Canada, which will account for 10 per cent of the delegates to the December leadership convention and where Brison's support is strongest.

Palmeter pointed out that the survey didn't even bother to specify the sample size or margin of error for the region, although it does provide such data for all other regions of the country.