A new political party has emerged in Alberta, the Progressive Tory Party.
Former UCP cabinet minister Peter Guthrie is the leader of the party, he says it’s been a “wild ride” to get to this point.
“The Alberta Party had approached us, they were in a position where they felt that there was some synergy so we linked up with them and decided to do and pursue a name change with that organization. We decided upon the Progressive Tory Party of Alberta and we’ve been working diligently on some logos and branding and that sort of thing. Hopefully we can get something nailed down in the next couple of weeks.”
Guthrie says provincial government legislation prevented the initial plan to revive the “progressive conservative” name.
While they may not have a whole platform yet, Guthrie says there’s some main pillars that he’s running on.
“One being actual fiscal responsibility. Next limited government and not just limited in the size of government, but also just staying out of the lives of Albertans and letting people live. Lets start talking about enforcement and consequences to limit corruption and cronyism. The fourth thing is Alberta remaining part of Canada and the last one we call social reliability.”
Guthrie was a member of Premier Danielle Smith’s government caucus until he was expelled for criticizing the government’s handling of the health contract scandal and for voting with opposition on a public inquiry motion.
There have been recent rumours about a provincial election being called in the spring, which Guthrie says is a “distinct possibility”.
You can listen to the full interview below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
