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again, however, during the 1970s, when
the oil crisis caused world markets to
reel. Residents of oil-rich Alberta took
particular offence at Prime Minister
Trudeau's various attempts to weaken
the provinces by imposing unpopular
policies such as the transfer of control
over natural resources to the federal
government.
At the end of the 1970s, the oil boom,
combined with an economic slowdown
in Ontario and Québec, gave Alberta al-
most total employment and made it the
province with the highest revenue per
capita. This record performance cost
Alberta some credibility when it came
to its demands for larger control of its
oil and gas. The split between the prov-
ince and the federal government wid-
ened, and in the 1980 federal elections,
the Liberal Party, the party ultimately
brought to power, failed to elect any
members of parliament from British
Columbia or Alberta. The Liberals thus
led the country until 1984 without any
representation from these two prov-
inces. The National Energy Program
tabled by the Trudeau government was
the straw that broke the camel's back
as far as Albertans were concerned.
Under this program, the federal govern-
ment was to claim a greater and greater
share of the price of Canadian oil and
natural gas, leaving only a very mar-
ginal amount of the profi ts generated
by the explosion of the world markets
for the provinces and producers. Pierre
Trudeau's Liberal government, which
had led Canada almost continuously
for 17 years, was succeeded by the
Progressive Conservative government
of Brian Mulroney, which did away
with the much-hated National Energy
Program.
5
Ernest Manning. © Glenbow Archives; ND-3-7109b
THE OIL BOOM
Neither the Social Credit nor the CCF,
the two western parties, ever came
to play an important role in federal
politics, though the CCF did have 28
Members of Parliament elected in 1945.
The arrival of John Diefenbaker, the
fi rst Canadian prime minister from the
West, only further marginalized the two
parties. Under Diefenbaker, a true rep-
resentative of the West (Saskatchewan),
as well as under the leadership of
his successor, Lester B. Pearson, who
truly understood the need to give the
provinces more powers, the demands
of the West almost seemed a thing of
the past. They came to the fore once
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