A Rye-and-Coke for Peter Lougheed

I just read that former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed died and it felt like someone punched me in the gut.

Lougheed was not a typical politician. In it completely for the right reasons, he didn’t lie or scheme; he was a friendly, intelligent optimist.

Above all, he was genuine. He never strayed so deep into the political bubble as to become unrecognizable to those outside the bubble. He didn’t have the “politician’s filter.” In other words, when he spoke to you, he sounded like a normal human being.

When I studied at the University of Alberta they gave me a Peter Lougheed Scholarship. I only met him briefly then, but the next year was invited back to the annual awards shindig. It’s not often you see the words “open bar” and “noon” on the same invitation, so I went.

Thirty minutes and two or three rye-and-cokes in (c’mon, it was undergrad), I looked for my randomly assigned name card, and found it at the main table. The card on the plate next to mine read Peter Lougheed. Oh shit, thought I.

So I cut myself off for a while and as we sat down he and I got chatting, for almost two hours. It was a while back so I’m paraphrasing, but my favorite part of the exchange went something like this:

PZ: “Yes, Mr. Lougheed, I am interested in getting involved in politics, most likely at the federal level.”
PL: “You know, you can get a lot more done in provincial politics. We have the more important jurisdictions.”
PZ: “I’m sure you’re right, but I wouldn’t know which province”. (I had lived in four and was heading to a fifth)
PL: “Well whatever you do, keep at it. It’s not an easy life, but it’s worthwhile.”

He didn’t say it but the look he gave me added, “and always remain a normal, decent person.”

And that was my very favorite part - realizing that you could be nice, humble, and reasonable, and still be a wildly successful and accomplished politician.

You could embrace long-term vision, compassion, rational policy-making, consensus-building, and progressive conservatism (aka liberalism, imho) and still be a wildly successful and accomplished politician.

You could be about 5-foot-7, and still be a wildly successful and accomplished politician. (Pre-Sarkozy, this was a relief.)

Many of these qualities are in short supply now, but they needn’t be. Spend time looking at what Lougheed did, but also how he went about it. If you’re thinking of a life in politics, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better model in Canadian history.

So I think I’ll have my first rye-and-coke in years tonight, and raise it in honour of Peter Lougheed. Thank you, good sir, for the advice, and the awakening.

Comments

[Kyle]

I really appreciated this post. I have been doing a lot of reading on the former premier after speaking with someone who also had the honour to meet Mr. Lougheed last year during the same scholarship ceremony you speak of in your post. Alberta has changed so much in the last 10 years, and I feel like we are looking for an identity in which to define ourselves. Mr. Lougheed has all of the characteristics that remind me of the Alberta of my childhood. I hope the province does not forgot this man and what he meant for the people of this province.