Two exiled UCP MLAs want to revive the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta.
In March, Premier Danielle Smith booted Lesser Slave Lake MLA Scott Sinclair from the party after he took shots at the provincial budget for ignoring northern Albertans.
A month later, Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrire got turfed for his criticism of the provincial government’s lack of transparency and its handling of ongoing procurement scandals.
Both of them say Premier Smith and her supporters are stoking separatism and that they have no other choice but to offer an alternative for moderate Conservatives.
“We feel like because the UCP have morphed into more of a separatist party that there’s no option for the moderate conservatives, and we believe that actually represents the majority of the population,” Sinclair said in a July 9 interview. “At the end of the day, I still feel like I want to be a part of a government that helps fix the problems in Canada, and in northern Alberta, and I feel like both could be done at the same time by staying inside the country.”
Reviving a legacy
The Progressive Conservatives ran Alberta for 44 years straight until 2015.
Many older Albertans still have fond memories of the late Peter Lougheed, who was Premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985. Lougheed is famous for introducing the Alberta Bill of Rights and increasing royalties that oil and gas companies paid to the province.
However Sinclair and Guthrie will need more than Lougheed nostalgia to start a new party or kickstart an old one, notes Duane Bratt, a political scientist from Mount Royal University.
“It’s very difficult to create a party in the middle. You need people who are angry to come out and support you,” Bratt told TheRockies.Life. “That’s why it’s easier if you’re on the fringe, like the Wildrose Party and the Saskatchewan Party.”
Conservatives without a home
However, the current separatist drift in the UCP could be a game changer and provide an opening for Sinclair and Guthrie to attract discontented and former UCP supporters to their cause.
“There’s a faction in the UCP that supports separatism, there are others who see it as a way to extract benefits from the federal government, and there are some who think separation is a dumb idea. So there’s definitely an opportunity to appeal to Conservative who feel homeless right now,” Bratt said. “But it still takes a lot of work to form a new party.”
In 2017 the Wildrose Party and Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta joined forces to form the United Conservative Party.
The party immediately became the official opposition with Jason Kenney as leader. In 2019, the UCP formed the government and Kenney became Premier.
Conflict on brand for the UCP
Bratt said in many ways the UCP has been anything but united during its short life. COVID-19 almost broke it apart and now the separation issue is creating cracks in the UCP caucus.
Kicking out MLAs is also part of the UCP brand.
Premier Kenney sent MLAs Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes packing because of their criticism of his government’s handling of COVID-19.
“Kenney did it and now Premier Smith is doing it,” Bratt said.
Signatures needed
Guthrie and Sinclair are currently sitting as independents in the legislature.
In an interview with the CBC, they said they are working towards officially re-registering the Progressive Conservative Party with Elections Alberta.
Doing so requires getting 8,819 Albertans, or 0.3 percent of voters, to sign a petition.
Guthrie told CBC, their party would be “fiscally conservative and socially reliable.”
