Peter Guthrie, leader of the Progressive Tory Party of Alberta and MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, discusses Elections Alberta recently verifying a petition by Stay Free Alberta, the upcoming Calgary-Shaw byelection, and the west coast pipeline with Alberta Primetime’s Michael Higgins. This article has been edited for length and clarity. Michael Higgins: What do you feel should ultimately come of the separatists’ question, given the petition has been verified as successful? Peter Guthrie: I think they should be happy with the referendum questions that are set up as they are, because they are built in order to continue the constitutional battle with Ottawa. These are not built to resolve anything. The (United Conservative Party) knows full well that going to the ballot with referendum questions that are based upon, let’s say, leaving the (Canadian Pension Plan) or getting rid of the RCMP, they know that those are not winners. So, in order to keep the separation dream alive, they’re switching gears, and so they’re now able to look at things such as immigration, justice, voting, and continue that battle on federal-provincial jurisdiction. My fear is here that this isn’t going to end on Oct. 19. That if the UCP get a mandate, then they’re just going to continue that battle, and we’re going to end up right back where we are today, but this time having a real referendum on separation. It’s quite sad because we’re not dealing with the issues that Albertans need addressing, like affordability, health care, education, dealing with the massive debts the UCP are ringing up. MH: If their questions are unsuccessful, how do you feel the Smith government should own that outcome? PG: Then they’re going to need to drop it, for sure. That said, the premier has already indicated that they intend on moving forward. At least she’s sort of alluded to that fact. MH: Regarding your efforts to build Team Tory, how steep a hill are you having to climb to generate traction for the party? How do you land on the radar as a credible alternative? PG: We’re pretty happy with the progress that we’ve been seeing. People are reaching out and they’re very excited. The feedback that we’re getting from people all across the province is suggesting that they’re looking for a new political home, and we’re there to offer that. Practical, sensible, evidence-based decision making. Government that is based in and foundationally on good government. As far as operationally, we’re doing well. We started this year with zero constituency associations; we now have 30 up and running. We’re getting interest from volunteers, from members, from candidates. We just opened our first nomination contest last week in Camrose, and we’re gearing up for the Calgary-Shaw byelection. MH: Do you have someone in mind already for a Calgary-Shaw candidate? PG: We do, and I think that we will be looking to open up that nomination contest in the next week or two. MH: And you anticipate a byelection will be held? PG: We are expecting that that’ll be called. I don’t think the premier has indicated that she’s going to call it and have it on the same day as the referendum. That would make the most sense. The UCP are spending somewhere in the order of $120 million to 150 million on the referendum, so you would think, when you’re bringing people together, that you would hold the byelection on the same night. But I think all indications are that it’ll be some time after that. MH: Before parting ways with the governing UCP, you served as energy minister. The proposed west coast pipeline is now under review by the major projects office. Where do you feel Alberta stands in substantially taking this forward? PG: From a Tory Party perspective, we absolutely support responsible resource development and getting our resources to world markets. But before taxpayers go writing checks for tens of billions of dollars, we really should be asking, why private companies are not investing. Right now, we are currently at our export capacity. We have another say 850,000 barrels that are already approved. So the government here now is talking about another 2.8 million barrels on top of that. So, before another pipeline makes sense, billions of dollars are going to have to be invested by the private sector to fill those lines. And so, if that investment isn’t happening, we need to be looking at the root problem instead of asking taxpayers to to flip the bill for what looks like you know a political stunt to save the hides of the UCP.
