‘They’re terrified’: MLA reacts to UCP’s proposed party name changes

Peter Guthrie is responding to a new bill that will prevent another party from using the Progressive Conservative party name, saying the UCP is afraid.

Amendments to party name rules proposed by Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) government have sparked conversation about the future of a rebranded Progressive Conservative party in the province.

Bill 14, tabled on Thursday by Justice Minister Mickey Amery, proposed changes to several pieces of legislation, some of which would limit new political parties aiming to use similar names to existing legacy parties.

Amery told reporters on Thursday that the legislation was largely to improve voter clarity and maintain the “goodwill and hard work of political movements all across this province.”

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“It would be no different than a party coming forward and seeking to register a name (like) the Alberta Democrats, or the New Liberals or the Greenest party,” he said.

“This is not what we want for the landscape here in Alberta, and we think that that’s appropriate.”

In July, sitting Independent legislature members Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair announced they intended to resurrect the Progressive Conservative party after being removed from the UCP caucus.

On Friday, Guthrie told Alberta Primetime that a new bill from the UCP would not deter efforts to resuscitate the PC name unless it becomes law.

“We feel that we were on a sound legal ground … ultimately, it’s because they’re terrified,” he said. “They’re terrified of the fact that, with a PC party in the mix, the UCP are relegated to third place.”

The PC party was the dominant Alberta conservative party and held government for more than four decades before losing to the NDP in 2015. In 2017, PC members joined forces with the Wildrose Party to become the UCP.

By November 2025, the UCP had filed a lawsuit against Guthrie and Sinclair which included that the UCP maintained ownership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta’s names, brand and trademarks.

One political consultant, Najib Jutt, said the naming of political parties is not the “same exercise” as the naming of corporations or brands.

“There are only a few names in our Western-style democracy that are associated with certain parts of the (political) spectrum. And that’s the idea, right? Is that you will be affiliated with certain parts of the political spectrum … so it’s silly to try to restrict that,” he said.

Stephen Carter, president of campaign strategy group Decide Campaigns, aligned with Jutt in saying that the UCP’s move to restrict party names amid an inundation of information in Bill 14 was indicative of the party’s status.

“I think it’s because they’re weak. I think that they’re trying to constrain themselves, to legislate themselves into a better position,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Friday. “And they’re doing that in an omnibus bill fashion, so that Albertans don’t notice.”

He also rejected Amery’s argument of not wanting to confuse voters, given the number of parties in existence that include the words liberal, conservative, green, libertarian or otherwise.

“People figure it out. People know who they want to vote for. Mickey Amery is implying that the population of Alberta is too stupid to tell A from B … that is ridiculous to me,” he added.

If Bill 14, the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, is passed as law in the legislature, Guthrie did say his burgeoning party may have to look for an alternative.

The bill has passed first reading and is set to be read again in the legislature on Dec. 8.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg and Angela Amato, The Canadian Press