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The Rainmaker died seven years ago, but if ever his words were needed in Alberta and the rest of Western Canada, it’s today.

That would be Keith Davey, believed by many to be the Godfather of the modern Liberal Party of Canada, and affectionately called The Rainmaker by those he helped grab or hang onto power, who famously set the seal on western alienation in 1980 with a comment during Pierre Trudeau’s ultimately successful election campaign.

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“Screw the West, we’ll take the rest,” was how Davey succinctly put it. And that’s exactly what they did, which is why running as a federal Grit remains one tough road in Alberta, and why the provincial party, despite some good leaders down the years, today trails the NDP as an alternative to the various forms of political conservatism.

Of course, there were already many folk from Manitoba to Vancouver Island feeling the West had got a raw deal ever since Confederation – that it was seen as a hinterland of raw materials to be used for the enrichment of Central Canadian businesses and banks.