Independent MLAs say work has already begun to rebuild Progressive Conservative Party
The former UCP caucus members will need to secure 8,819 signatures by November
Two independent Alberta MLAs revealed more details on Saturday about their work to resurrect the Progressive Conservative brand that held government in Alberta for 44 years.
After announcing their plan to re-register the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta earlier this week, Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair held what they billed as an official relaunch of the party in Calgary on Saturday. They explained their aim is to offer an alternative conservative voice that falls closer to the political centre than the governing United Conservative Party or the opposition NDP.
Work has already begun, the MLAs explained, to secure signatures to register the party. But Alberta's PC revival isn't official just yet. The party will need to secure 8,819 signatures, representing 0.3 per cent of the province's voting population, by late November.
Guthrie argued their push for a new party is to represent what he sees as the mainstream political beliefs of most people in the province, after hearing from a growing number of frustrated voters who felt they didn't have a political home in Alberta.
"We have an NDP that seems to be focused on 20 to 30 per cent of the population on the left, and we have the UCP that seems to be focused on the same-sized group on the right," said Guthrie, a former infrastructure minister who's served as MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane since 2019.
"Alberta is and always has been a progressive conservative province. One where people value responsible government."
The governing UCP are no longer a real conservative party, Guthrie argued, and the PC party he's pitching will offer a more practical and principled voice, he said.
Conservative credibility in opposition
Guthrie and Sinclair have taken up the PC mantle after both were ousted from the UCP earlier this year.
After serving as an MLA in the party for nearly six years, Guthrie resigned from Premier Danielle Smith's cabinet in February citing concerns with the government amid the controversy over procurement practices at Alberta Health Services (AHS). He was then expelled from caucus in April, after pushing for a public inquiry into the AHS issue.
Sinclair, on the other hand, was a first-term MLA representing Lesser Slave Lake for the UCP, who was kicked out of caucus in March after publicly criticizing the provincial budget for forecasting significant deficits while spending too heavily on Alberta's major cities rather than its rural communities.
Lori Williams, an associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University, said Guthrie and Sinclair are currently the most vocal, and possibly the most effective, opposition members in the legislature.
Their status as former party members adds credibility to their criticism, Williams said, adding that regardless of how many seats their party wins, their critiques could be the largest challenge they present to the current government.
"When a conservative is saying a conservative government is entitled and corrupt, that's going to resonate in a way that wouldn't for people who either don't have that inside information or that reputation for being committed, principled conservatives," Williams said.
The viability of the PC label
The Progressive Conservative brand is well-known for holding power in Alberta's legislature from 1971 to 2015, and being led by longtime premiers like Peter Lougheed, Don Getty and Ralph Klein.
But its popularity dipped in its final years, and the party faced criticism for its perceived entitlement, leading to the party winning just nine seats in the 2015 Alberta election. Two years later, new party leader Jason Kenney struck a deal with the Wildrose Party to merge and form the UCP.
Sinclair argued he and Guthrie have made principled stands resulting in their departure from the UCP, and he drew parallels between criticisms both the current provincial government and the PCs of old faced around excessive spending and investigations into the government.
"We were asking questions about accountability, financial oversight, value for money, bloated contracts, and it got us exactly where we are today. I would say there are a lot of parallels between the late PC days … and talking about this existing premier," Sinclair said.
But earlier this week, Smith threw cold water on whether the PC brand could legally be revived in Alberta.
Smith argued elections law states new parties can't use the name of the former legacy parties that merged to form the UCP, to avoid confusing voters.
"We expect the law to be followed, and we're going to be following up with Elections Alberta accordingly," Smith said.
On Saturday, Guthrie said Elections Alberta made the party name available after the most recent provincial election. Earlier this week, an Elections Alberta spokesperson said the chief electoral officer would make a final determination on a party's proposed name during the registration process.
While the new PC party could also take votes from the NDP if their supporters look for a different alternative to the current government, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said his party remains "the only choice for positive change" in Alberta.
"The decision by these two former UCP MLAs to revive the PC party is another clear sign that Albertans are unhappy with this current UCP government and are demanding better for our province," said Nenshi in a statement on Wednesday.
Guthrie and Sinclair expect to remain the party's only members until the party is officially registered, and aren't pushing for other MLAs to join. But they said they've had interesting conversations since their plans for their party were announced.
There's no evidence more MLAs will follow Guthrie and Sinclair, Williams said, and the UCP is likely to work hard to keep its MLAs in the fold. But she noted the new party creates the possibility Smith may have to respond to a split in her party's centre.
Williams points out that while no party outside the UCP and NDP have picked up significant support in polling or electoral results since the 2019 election, what could make the PC party different is if more credible people throw their support behind it, especially if any MLAs cross the floor, or join the party after being removed from the UCP like Guthrie and Sinclair were.
"United Conservatives are not terribly united. They disagree on a lot of things. Some of them belong to parties previously that fought against one another in the legislature," Williams said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Brendan Coulter