wo stories dominate Volume 11: The first is the oil and gas boom that erupted in Alberta in the 1970s after the governments of the petroleum producing nations of the world seized control of the global energy market and forced prices dramatically upwards. The second, which flows inevitably from the first, is the epic political struggle between Ottawa and Alberta for control of energy production and pricing and the related constitutional fight over the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments.
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"Give 'er." The ubiquitous command to work hard and play hard that originated in the Alberta oil patch in the 1970s.
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The dramatic power of these stories stems not only from their monumental economic and political importance, but also from the extraordinary cast of characters who played leading roles. Premier Peter Lougheed emerges as a historical colossus, a fierce competitor who defended Alberta's interests with bold strategic gambits and unwavering resolve. He fights his nemesis in Ottawa, Pierre Trudeau, to an honourable draw, and both roll over the historical footnote Joe Clark, surely the most unlikely Alberta politician there ever was.
This was also the era of the storied Edmonton Eskimos five-in-a-row Grey Cups dynasty, the age when the baby boomers discovered "lifestyle" and embraced the fitness craze, haute cuisine and a big house in the burbs, and when crime became frightfully savage and omnipresent. Lougheed and the War with Ottawa ends with Lougheed stuffing Alberta's unruly separatists back in their cage and Brian Mulroney promising to make the West an equal partner in the Canadian federation at last.
