EDMONTON— After being removed from the UCP caucus, former cabinet minister and current MLA Peter Guthrie found himself without a party, but now he and the Progressive Tory Party want to provide a political home for conservative voters who, like him, do not support the UCP. "For myself, I think that we are trying to provide the only conservative voice that's out there," said the Tory's leader, Guthrie, in an interview with the Western Standard. "I think that Albertans deserve to have a truly conservative voice representing them. I don't feel that we have a conservative government right now in a multitude of different fields." .Guthrie was elected to represent the Airdrie-Cochrane riding as a UCP member; however, he was later removed from the caucus in 2025 after speaking out against procurement scandals. He then spent roughly nine months as an independent MLA before joining the Alberta Party, becoming its leader in December, and leading it through a rebranding to become the Progressive Tory Party. Guthrie said that his former party has abandoned conservative values such as responsible fiscal management, limited government, opposition to corruption and cronyism, and that, though they claim to advocate for freedom, their support is misrepresented. "This is a government that is increasing red tape, increasing the size of the bureaucracy, and yet at the same time, efficiency and productivity are in decline, and they're using consultants more than ever," Guthrie said. "There's $1.1 billion that is currently being used for outside consultants. At a time when you're growing the size of government, you should be doing more in-house. We have technology available now that should increase your productivity, and yet it's going the other way." By comparison, Guthrie said the Tories are driven by rational, evidence-based decision-making rather than ideology, and he personally likes making decisions based on logic, reasoning, and data..Guthrie takes issue with the way Premier Danielle Smith split the health care system among multiple new ministries following multiple problems with Alberta Health Services. He does not object to the need to reform Alberta's health system, but he feels it was done too hastily, and Albertans are now feeling the repercussions. "They were building the plan in the air," Guthrie said. "They did not have a plan. No business plan, and you're doing that when you have 40% of the budget at stake, and then you have the lives of people and individuals in your hands, and so that's why this is such an absolute disaster.".As the former energy minister, Guthrie also has a perspective on Alberta's MOU with Ottawa and the proposed West Coast pipeline. According to him, taxpayers should not be paying for it, and individuals must consider why private investors have not jumped on board. He pointed to federal regulations, such as the West Coast tanker ban and continued elements of the Impact Assessment Act, as well as uncertainty from the independence debate and other actions by the Smith government. "Those are three areas in which I think you could cite where we need to deal with the root causes of the problems we have, some of which are federal, much of which are provincial," Guthrie said. .Commenting on the current state of the UCP, Guthrie said the coalition of conservative parties has seen the further-right-wing voices of the former Wildrose Party overpower the moderate voices from the old Progressive Conservative Party. The divide can be seen across a number of issues, but none is more pronounced than the rumoured 60/40 split in support for Alberta independence."The wedges that have been formed, the partnerships internally, and they're not coming back," Guthrie said. "And so, there are a lot of people who are politically homeless, and that's where we come in. As I said earlier, I think we are the only ones that are going to be on this ballot." The Tory party plans to field a nominee in every riding during the 2027 election, and is expected to target moderate conservative voters who have grown dissatisfied with the UCP."We need to get back to conservative principles again," Guthrie said. "I think we've lost our way."
