On Thursday, Alberta Party leader and MLA Peter Guthrie unveiled his party’s latest makeover, announcing that the organization formerly known as the Alberta Party is now the “Progressive Tory Party of Alberta,” marking its second attempted rebrand attempt in the last year.According to Guthrie, the new name offers Albertans a “progressive conservative option rooted in fiscal responsibility, social reliability, and respect for democratic institutions.” This is a nice thought. Although I think the idea of naming the party the way we want to be progressive conservatives would have been too on the nose.Guthrie doubled down in a video posted on X, assuring voters there will be “another conservative option on the ballot,” one that is “socially reliable” and “fiscally responsible.” Exactly how this differs from the UCP, beyond tone and typography, remains unclear.This latest reinvention comes after the party’s first attempt at a makeover back in September, when it tried to rename itself the “Alberta Progressive Conservative Party,” a move that triggered an immediate legal and legislative response from the UCP. Elections Alberta never approved that change, and by November the governing party had taken the Alberta Party to court over the use of the “Progressive Conservative” label..The dispute escalated when the UCP caucus passed Bill 14, legislation requiring Elections Alberta to reject party names that contain distinctive words likely to cause confusion with another party. Justice Minister Mickey Amery was blunt at the time.“Some folks out there want to confuse people into voting for them based on the name conservative,” Amery said, stressing repeatedly that the bill was “not partisan.”The legislation restricted words such as “conservative,” “liberal,” “democratic,” “wild rose,” and “republican,” effectively shutting down Guthrie’s original plan. This led to the artist formerly known as the Alberta Party trying to linguistically recreate the Progressive Conservative name with some creative tricks.Enter the “Progressive Tory Party of Alberta,” a name that manages to sidestep the letter of Bill 14 while thumbing its nose at the spirit. If “Progressive Conservative” is off-limits, simply split it in two and swap in “Tory,” a word that has only been synonymous with conservatism for a few hundred years..Problem solved.Guthrie insists Elections Alberta approved the new name on Thursday, with the party directory updated Friday. Legally permissible, perhaps, but politically subtle it is not. This is just a semantic loophole to name themselves what they wanted to be called anyway. “Progressive Blue Party of Reasonable Common Sense Alberta,” perhaps. Or “Moderately Sensible Fiscal Conservatives Who Are Definitely Not the UCP,” would have been more fitting if anything.Guthrie, for his part, frames the saga as a fight against unfair barriers. He has called Bill 14 a “calculated move to block competition,” vowing that his party is “not backing down” and promising “big things ahead.”That may be true. But after multiple rebrands, court fights, and legislative countermeasures, the party risks becoming better known for its naming disputes than its policies. For now, Albertans can rest easy knowing the province’s ballot will feature yet another “conservative” option that insists it is totally different from the others. Indeed, it has one different word.
