After spending most of last weekend in Calgary and having the privilege of speaking with scores of well-informed Albertans including a number of prominent political figures, I came away with an uneasy feeling that it is not generally recognized in Canada how politically vulnerable this country is and how vivid and well-founded are the public policy grievances of Alberta. Alberta was a conventional farming and ranching economy until the discovery of oil there in 1947. Today, mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction account for a quarter of Alberta’s GDP, and 70 per cent of exports, with ancillary benefits to the construction, manufacturing, transportation and other industries.