Noteworthy: What’s in a name? And which side will it attract?

By Bruce Penton on December 24, 2025.

There’s little doubt the formation of the newly named Progressive Tory Party of Alberta will be responsible for vote-splitting at the next provincial election, but the question is: Will it split the right or the left vote? Back in 2015, the existence of the Progressive Conservative Party and Wildrose definitely caused a split in the right-of-centre vote and the New Democrats under Rachel Notley took advantage to win the election.

The Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, which finalized its name last week, was founded by two disgruntled UCP members, Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair. The new party definitely sounds like a right-wing leaner, which would logically attract a few voters that would normally be in the UCP camp.

But UCP communications director Dave Prisco, by saying, “No matter what it’s named, this is another left-wing party that’s out of touch with Albertans,” is lumping the new party in with the NDP and hope the split happens on the left side of the political spectrum.

Calling it a left-wing party is somewhat of a stretch. True, it is linked with the former centrist Alberta Party, but Guthrie and Sinclair were both originally elected as UCP members. Said Guthrie: “There will be another conservative option on the ballot in the next election – one that’s socially reliable, fiscally responsible and answers to all of you.”

Potential candidates running under the PTP of Alberta flag are likely to carry moderate views, which will likely be interpreted as more left than right by the average Alberta voter.

â€¢ It’s no surprise to hear from the experts that walking is important for health, especially among seniors, but it was interesting to read recently that longer walks are more advantageous than short ones.

A study over almost 10 years tracked a group of relatively sedentary 40- to 79-year-olds who walked a median 5,100 steps per day. Those who got their steps through longer walks – described as at least 15 minutes in length – achieved greater health results than those who had approximately the same number of steps, but in shorter bursts.

“We tend to place all the emphasis on the number of steps or the total amount of walking but neglect the crucial role of patterns,” study co-author Emmanuel Stamatakis of the University of Sydney told the Wall Street Journal.

The study also showed that even greater health benefits can be achieved by walking faster, or by walking backwards.

Anyone in Medicine Hat seen walking backwards on the city’s trails would definitely get some weird looks.

Even without high step counts, a daily walk is vital to a healthy life, said the study, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

â€¢ Medicine Hat’s Dillon Batsel had a tremendous 2025 season in the world of pro golf, and he was rewarded for his success last week by winning PGA of Canada’s Mike Weir Male Player of the Year award.

Batsel, an assistant pro at Desert Blume and a member of the economics faculty at Medicine Hat College, beat out four other nominees for the prestigious award, including Calgary’s Wes Heffernan. Batsel won the overall player of the year award, finished second in the Order of Merit points list and sixth in money.

He finished third at the Alberta PGA championship, was runner-up at both the Canadian PGA event and the PGA of Alberta Assistants Championship, and finished eighth ay the PGA of Canada Assistants championship.

Naturally, he also coaches Medicine Hat College’s college’s golf team. His profile on the college’s website describes his involvement at the institution: “Within the School of Business, Dillon helps run the Business Administration Students (BAS) program and is involved with research on the positive effects Case Clubs have on a student’s academic performance.”

â€¢ From the ‘Shocking, just shocking’ file: According to the Globe and Mail on the Epstein files that were released last Friday: “Documents include numerous photos of former president Bill Clinton, with references to Donald Trump relatively sparse.”

â€¢ A tip of the Christmas hat to Deanna Doerksen and her many volunteers at the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund for their efforts to make Christmas a happier time for some folks who might otherwise not have much to be happy about.

In the same vein, hundreds of people gave up their time during the Christmas season to sit at Salvation Army stations at various grocery outlets in Medicine Hat to collect funds for the Army’s Kettle Campaign.

We can only hope that between the SCF, the Kettle Campaign and a number of other Holiday-Season charitable ventures, no one went without at least a little bit of cheer this year.

â€¢ Christmas has finally arrived, which means the beginning of the world junior hockey championship is nigh, and thankfully, the end of that annoying Swiss Chalet TV commercial where the little boy in the back seat with the bad diction tells his mother that a restaurant visit is what he feels is the most obvious sign of Christmas.

Enjoy the big day.