RIP Peter Lougheed

[Bertuzzied]

We are so lucky to have two of the greatest premiers ever! RIP Premier Lougheed.

[Cowperson]

I was first introduced to Pete Lougheed in the mid-1970's while dripping wet on the deck of the swimming pool in my small town, only a teenager and competing in some sort of local, minor swimming competition.

Four or five years later, in the late 1970's, I was working as a photojournalist for a small weekly paper and went with a colleague to a press conference at the Capri in Red Deer, sitting myself down just in front of the microphones.

Lougheed walks in, gets near the podium, looks down, sees me, reaches down to shake my hand, looks me in the eye and says: "Hi Rick, how have you been . . . . ."

WTF?

It was early, so I asked him how on earth, with all the people he must meet every day and years intervening plus the completely different circumstances, he could have possibly remembered me. While the passage of multiple decades has dulled my memory as to his complete answer, he did tell me had a system whereby he tried to remember faces and names . . . . and later, from his other colleagues, I learned it was something that made him a brilliant and popular politician, the ability to personalize even a fleeting meeting and bring it back later.

People loved him for that.

And just to show it was no fluke, he did it again with myself a few years after that as well.

He was a great leader for Alberta.

Cowperson

[Puppet Guy]

I used to see him a lot when I worked at Bankers Hall. I never got to speak to him, but I was always impressed that a former premier who was so high-profile would be walking around with no airs about him.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by CBC

Although a huge proponent of Alberta's oil and gas resources, Lougheed expressed concern in the 2000s with the hasty development of the oilsands, which he felt was coming at the expense of proper infrastructure and the settling of environmental issues.

He also registered his concern at the increasing pressure the U.S. was exerting on Alberta to guarantee its oil supply and in 2011 came out against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S., on the grounds that Alberta should be refining the heavy oil from the oilsands itself and then exporting the finished product.

In a 2004 speech, Lougheed insisted that Alberta's most important resource was water, not oil and gas, and suggested that Canada should resist all demands to export its water south of the border.

I thought that was rather interesting, and it illustrates part of what made Peter Lougheed so well respected. He wasn't some myopic booster-at-all-costs, but someone who understood that there were many different angles to look at the big picture, and looked at things with a long-term vision.

Originally Posted by Cowperson

he did tell me had a system whereby he tried to remember faces and names . . . . and later, from his other colleagues, I learned it was something that made him a brilliant and popular politician, the ability to personalize even a fleeting meeting and bring it back later.

That is pretty amazing. I would love to know this system....I have a hard time remembering the names of my students after a whole semester has gone by.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

It was early, so I asked him how on earth, with all the people he must meet every day and years intervening plus the completely different circumstances, he could have possibly remembered me. While the passage of multiple decades has dulled my memory as to his complete answer, he did tell me had a system whereby he tried to remember faces and names . . . . and later, from his other colleagues, I learned it was something that made him a brilliant and popular politician, the ability to personalize even a fleeting meeting and bring it back later.

People loved him for that.

And just to show it was no fluke, he did it again with myself a few years after that as well.

I've heard that Bill Clinton has the exact same memory (or memory trick). He, like Lougheed, seams to remember ever single person he meets, regardless of their status. Not to derail the thread, but it seams like a key trait for the really successful politicians.

[JBR]

Any bets that the first thing he did upon arriving in heaven was looking for Pierre Trudeau to wring his neck?

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by JBR

Any bets that the first thing he did upon arriving in heaven was looking for Pierre Trudeau to wring his neck?

Trudeau didn't go to heaven.

[Ozy_Flame]

For those who didn't know, he was also a defensive back for the Eskimos in 1949.

[Erick Estrada]

RIP Peter Lougheed

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I was first introduced to Pete Lougheed in the mid-1970's while dripping wet on the deck of the swimming pool in my small town, only a teenager and competing in some sort of local, minor swimming competition.

Four or five years later, in the late 1970's, I was working as a photojournalist for a small weekly paper and went with a colleague to a press conference at the Capri in Red Deer, sitting myself down just in front of the microphones.

Lougheed walks in, gets near the podium, looks down, sees me, reaches down to shake my hand, looks me in the eye and says: "Hi Rick, how have you been . . . . ."

WTF?

It was early, so I asked him how on earth, with all the people he must meet every day and years intervening plus the completely different circumstances, he could have possibly remembered me. While the passage of multiple decades has dulled my memory as to his complete answer, he did tell me had a system whereby he tried to remember faces and names . . . . and later, from his other colleagues, I learned it was something that made him a brilliant and popular politician, the ability to personalize even a fleeting meeting and bring it back later.

People loved him for that.

And just to show it was no fluke, he did it again with myself a few years after that as well.

He was a great leader for Alberta.

Cowperson

Thanked not only for such an awesome post but to find out that Cowperson's first name is Rick!

Ralph Klein was also an awesome guy to meet. We used to goto New Harbour City for dinner every weekend when i was a kid. We used to see Ralph just sit by himself eating some awesome chinese food. And it wasn't even the white people crap like deep fried chicken balls! hahah

He always said hi and was really nice even though we were some naughty kids raising havoc in a restaurant.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Fyp...Unquestionably Canada's greatest premier

Possibly, but older folks might argue a guy named Joey Smallwood did the most for his territory than anyone else in canadian history.

[Daradon]

A bit before my time, I woulda been 4 when he left office, but came by to express my condolences and thanks, I know the stories and history well. We were quite lucky.