How long was peter lougheed premier

Lougheed was also interested in agricultural diversification, medical research and supporting the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses SMEs. In the government set up the Alberta Opportunity Company to fund high-risk, innovative SMEs that had been rejected by traditional lenders. By it had helped fund over companies and individuals.

During the s Lougheed pushed for a stronger role for Alberta in national decision-making, one commensurate with the province's growing economic strength. He resisted what he saw as federal incursions into provincial jurisdictions, while remaining committed to a united Canada. His major confrontation with Ottawa over oil revenues ultimately led to the Energy Pricing Agreement and subsequent accords, which had the effect of ensuring that the federal government would negotiate over oil and gas prices and revenues rather than act unilaterally.

One of Lougheed's regrets about his years in office was that he had too little time to devote to his passionate interest in culture and education. But both came together in his support of The Canadian Encyclopedia , launched in to celebrate Alberta's 75th anniversary.

Lougheed not only funded its research but also donated a copy to every school and library in Canada. Albertans thought highly of Lougheed's managerial competence, integrity, and commitment to the province's welfare, as shown in his overwhelming electoral victories of , , and Lougheed's government funds its research and donates a copy to every school and library in Canada.

Named a companion of the Order of Canada. Ian MacDonald, editor in chief of the institute's magazine Policy Options, says: "It wasn't even close. It was like watching Secretariat win the Belmont by 31 lengths. We welcome your comments. Bell Media reviews every comment submitted, and reserves the right to approve comments and edit for brevity and clarity. Please be advised: Comments are moderated and will not appear on site until they have been reviewed. Comments are not open on some news articles; Bell Media reserves the right to choose commenting availability.

Thank you for following these guidelines and contributing your thoughts. You are contributing to debate and discussion, and helping to make this website a more open place. Some of the highlights of his political career: : Elected leader of the Progressive Conservatives.

Statement by Stephen Harper on death of Peter Lougheed. If you have trouble reading the characters in the picture, click it to see a new one. Guidelines Preference is given to commenters who use real names. Believing that a successful politician needed to get his feet wet in business and law first, he took a job as a junior lawyer with a Calgary construction firm, Mannix Corporation. Four years later, he was a vice-president.

He left Mannix in to open a law practice as a launching pad for a political career. At the time, Alberta regularly sent Progressive Conservatives to Ottawa. The party was so popular that it won 60 of the 63 seats in the legislature in the election.

Undeterred, Lougheed believed it was time for the parochial province to interact more forcibly with the rest of the country and that he was the man to make it happen. Milton Milt Harradence stepped down as leader in , Lougheed won the leadership of the seatless party the following year and declared that before the party could provide an opposition, it had to be a credible alternative. In the election, the party fielded candidates in every riding; six were elected, including Lougheed in Calgary West, a seat he held for the next 19 years.

As leader of the official opposition, Lougheed put forward his own policies and ideas, in contrast to the largely spent political drive of the Socreds. Through by-elections and defections, the PC caucus slowly increased its numbers to 10 and began grooming itself for leadership: In the spring session, the party introduced more than 20 bills. When Harry Strom, the man who had succeeded Manning as leader in , called an election for August, , Lougheed was ready. Using the snappy one word slogan NOW!

The PC party, which had been shut out of the legislature only eight years earlier, formed the government with a majority of 49 seats to 25 for the Socreds and one for the NDP. Lougheed became premier at the beginning of a decade-long development boom, which netted him an even stronger mandate in the election, followed by two more landslide victories in and , when his party was returned in 75 of 79 ridings.

Having never forgotten the boom-bust cycle he observed in Oklahoma as an MBA student, he inaugurated Alberta's rainy-day Heritage Savings Trust Fund in , using royalties from the oil patch to make long-term investments in health care and medical research. And the iconic NOW! The Lougheed PCs were not alone. They had the financial backing of corporate Calgary, including generous support from the Mannix Corporation, which employed Lougheed before he was first elected to the Legislature in The PCs won with 49 seats and In politics timing is everything, and Lougheed lucked out.

Massive windfalls in oil and gas revenues led to overflowing government coffers, allowing the PC government to make major investments in public infrastructure like hospitals, schools, universities and colleges.

Lougheed believed Alberta should behave like an owner of our oil and gas resources and that the government should collect its fair share of revenues. Royalty revenues were much higher than today, peaking at 40 per cent during his time as Premier.

The oil companies complained but Lougheed was persistent.