Lesser Slave Lake MLA Scott Sinclair, rusticated from the United Conservative Party Caucus by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for trying too hard to look out for his rural constituents, sure has been quiet lately.
So quiet, indeed, one almost wonders if the Independent MLA from the riding 250 kilometres northwest of Edmonton is about to be beamed back aboard the UCP mothership.
Readers will recall a lot of brave talk last summer about Mr. Sinclair and former UCP infrastructure minister Peter Guthrie firing a bolt of electricity through the moribund remains of the Progressive Conservative Party that ruled Alberta for nearly 44 years and jolting it back to life.
Mr. Sinclair was kicked out of the UCP Caucus in March 2025 for threatening to vote against Finance Minister Nate Horner’s budget on the grounds it didn’t do enough for rural ridings like his.
Mr. Guthrie had quit cabinet in February over how the premier was dealing with the former Alberta Health Services CEO’s allegations about dodgy contracts being pushed by government insiders and was expelled from caucus in April for demanding a judge-led inquiry into the allegations.
The pair announced their Progressive Conservative renewal plan on July 2, 2025, when they showed up on the Real Talk With Ryan Jespersen video podcast.
“The premier is going to be held accountable for morphing the party from what was supposed to be a mainstream, big-tent party into a separatist party,” Mr. Sinclair told Mr. Jespersen. “We’re going to be able to provide people with a very comfortable option with a name that has credibility, with two MLAs to start that have reputations that I believe are reputable, are solid in their constituencies, and represent a lot more mainstream Albertans.”
Alas, it was not to be. Last fall the UCP went to court to block the use of the PC name by any new party. Then, in December, the UCP majority in the Assembly passed legislation forbidding new parties from using words or phrases already associated with registered parties or their predecessors – including “Conservative.”
Since then, while Mr. Guthrie has continued to regularly lambaste the government, Mr. Sinclair hasn’t had much to say.
After Mr. Guthrie announced the new party would be rolled into what was left of the Alberta Party and awkwardly rebranded as the Progressive Tory Party in an effort to get around the UCP legislation while still encouraging fond memories of the 44 years the PCs ruled Alberta, Mr. Sinclair publicly said he’d remain an Independent in the Legislature, thank you very much.
He wanted to work constructively across party lines, he said at the time. He also wanted to ensure his Lesser Slave Lake riding remained viable when the Electoral Boundaries Commission issued its report – which it did. All that, though, is now in doubt again with the UCP decision to dump the report and replace it with whatever a stacked MLA committee headed by Leduc-Beaumont MLA Brandon Lunty comes up with.
So from Mr. Sinclair’s perspective, this would be a good reason for a rapprochement with his former party.
And as the UCP’s only Indigenous candidate in the 2023 election, the UCP brain trust may see a useful role for Mr. Sinclair to help counter the growing hostility among First Nations leaders to the UCP’s separatist machinations.
Mr. Guthrie will never be forgiven for his political sins. There is real fury in Premier Smith’s inner circle at his repeated criticism of the UCP’s dodgy contracts scandal, its increasingly open separatism, and most recently its plan to politicize the drawing of electoral boundaries.
UCP leaders may soon find a way, though, to welcome Mr. Sinclair back into the bosom of the party.
