1945 – 1955 - Alberta Venture

Residential development, Lethbridge
1946
German prisoners of war
released from Camp 133 in
Lethbridge. The 12,000 POWs
nearly equal the population of
the city at the time.
1947
Oil discovered at Leduc.
Five hundred reporters,
businessmen and government
officials converge on a farmer’s
field to watch the gusher.
1947
High River author W.O.
Mitchell publishes Who Has
Seen the Wind.
1949
Alberta legislature passes the
Gas Resources Preservation Act,
setting the rules for natural gas
exports from the province.
1945~1955
Bonanza, Boom
Alberta’s defining decade. In the company’s last exploratory oil effort in the province,
Standard Oil of New Jersey’s Canadian subsidiary, Imperial Oil, hit the jackpot at Leduc
on February 13, 1947. This discovery of high-grade oil dramatically changed Alberta’s
economic destiny. Intense exploration led to new finds at Redwater, Golden Spike, Wiz-
ard Lake, Bonnie Glen and Pembina. In 1938, there were 294 producing wells in the
province. By 1953 there were 4,272. Five new gas processing plants came on stream and
the Interprovincial Pipeline was built from Edmonton to Sarnia, Ontario. Net revenue
from energy in the province increased over 40-fold between 1945 and 1955.
The oil surge stimulated activity elsewhere. The construction industry flourished,
especially in housing, with Edmonton and Calgary joining the national suburbanization
frenzy. Increased demand for oil and oilfield services began transforming the metropolitan profile of Edmonton and the economies of strategically located farming communities. The decade ended on a high note. Alberta’s 50th birthday in 1955 bequeathed a
spate of new projects and new ambitions. Things had never been rosier.
1951
Census determines that
more than half of Alberta’s
population is urban.
1951
Alberta Agriculture Hall of
Fame created to recognize
outstanding contributions
to rural life.
1952
Gas pipeline built from southeastern Alberta into Montana,
and Westcoast Transmission
receives permission from
Alberta government to pipe
gas from Peace River area to
Vancouver and south into U.S.
1952
Andrew Briosi invents the
sugar beet harvester.
1953
An international pioneer
of carbohydrate chemistry,
U of A scientist Raymond
Lemieux becomes the
first person to synthesize
sucrose.
Roughnecks drilling at Leduc No. 1
H
Vern “Dryhole” Hunter
BY BRIAN BRENNAN
E DIDN’T KNOW IT AT THE TIME,
oilpatch for 25 years when he was hired as toolpush on
but when Vern Hunter and
the Leduc project. Born in Nanton, the son of an impov-
his crew started drilling for oil
erished Baptist minister paid more often in farm produce
in a frozen farmer’s field near Leduc in November 1946,
than cash, Hunter started as a junior clerk with Royalite
his bosses at Imperial Oil were about to get out of the
Oil in Calgary at age 16, moved into the field as a rough-
oil exploration business in western Canada. After drill-
neck and eventually became a driller with Royalite’s par-
ing 133 wildcat wells in Saskatchewan and Alberta with-
ent company, Imperial.
out finding oil in commercial quantities, Imperial was
ready to start experimenting with an unproven method
constantly irritated him – while drilling dust in Saskatch-
of converting then-unwanted natural gas to synthetic
ewan between 1943 and 1946. His bosses then sent him
oil. For Hunter, Leduc was just another job. For Imperial,
to Leduc, where Hunter thought the prospects would be
Wildcat Number 134 was to be the company’s “last-
no better. “Too close to Edmonton,” he remarked. Experi-
chance” well.
Hunter was 41 years old and had been working in the
58
He acquired the nickname “Dryhole” – a moniker that
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
ence told him that oil was usually found in desolate locations, never within sight of tall buildings.
“You could hear it like a train
approaching when you put
your ear to the pipe.”
The drilling location was the Mike Turta farm, 16 kilometres west of Leduc. Hunter and his crew spudded in the
well on November 20, 1946, and for the next couple of
months the drilling was unproductive. However on February 3, 1947, a geyser shot 250 metres up the borehole,
drenching one of the roughnecks in mud and light crude
oil. Vern Hunter was “Dryhole” no more. “You could hear
it like a train approaching when you put your ear to the
pipe,” he said afterwards.
Hunter’s bosses at Imperial quickly grasped the importance of the strike. They urged him to name the day when
he would bring in the well. Doing so in front of an invited
audience of politicians and journalists would be an ef-
Ray Nelson
W
fective public relations coup, they said, after all the dry
years. Hunter picked February 13 “and started praying.”
He knew how temperamental a wildcat well could be.
The well blew in, six hours later than scheduled, at
HEN RAY NELSON GOT OFF THE GREY-
4 p.m. on the appointed day. A 22-year-old roughneck
hound in Lloydminster in 1946 after
named Johnny Funk flared the well, the flames shot 15
more than four years in the army, he
metres into the air, and a huge cloud of black smoke rose
faced an uncertain future.
dozens of metres above that. “The most beautiful smoke
Ray and his brother, Austin, started
ring you ever saw,” said Hunter. He didn’t know it at the
the Nelson Lumber Company in 1949
time, but the rising plume signalled the start of an eco-
and Nelson Homes in 1958. When he
nomic boom that would transform Alberta and increase
sold the companies to 26 employee-
the province’s annual gross domestic product to $100 bil-
investors in 2003, annual revenue was
lion over the next 50 years.
more than $160 million. Ray Nelson
Leduc brought some changes to Hunter’s life as well.
After working as rig boss on two more discovery wells, he
“Business is many
things, the least
of which is the
balance sheet.”
also made headlines in 1999 when, at
79, he became the oldest heart transplant patient in the
was promoted to field superintendent at Leduc. The “Dry-
world. The following quote is from a speech he delivered
hole” nickname became his passport to future celebrity.
in October 2003 at a party celebrating the sale of his
He appeared twice on CBC television’s game show Front
companies.
Page Challenge, and was written up in English newspapers
as the man who “single-handedly” drilled the famous
Business is many things, the least of which is the balance sheet.
well.
It is a fluid, ever-changing living thing. Sometimes building to
While Leduc brought him instant fame and media at-
great peaks, sometimes falling to crumpled lumps. The soul of
tention, Hunter said the historic importance of the dis-
business is a curious mixture of needs, desires, greed and gratifi-
covery was lost upon him until years afterwards. “Hell, I
cation, mixed together with selflessness, sacrifice and personal
was just a working man. I didn’t think it would be such a
contributions, far beyond material rewards. It serves the aspi-
big thing. But the people in Calgary and Toronto knew. A
rations of many men and women and is a source of physical
working stiff just does his job.”
security and well-being for all of us.
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
59
Customers expect
his handshake,
smile, expertise,
experience, and,
of course, his
camel jokes.
Moghrabi family
F
BY SOPHIE LEES
ROM THE SECOND LEVEL OF THE 18,000-SQUARE-FOOT
tion where, in 1948, Albert’s father, Chaffic Moghrabi,
sporting goods store, I have an astonishing view of
disembarked from a long journey that began in Lebanon.
the lake. Sadly, it’s overcast. I’m sitting in a nook, next
Drawn by mink farming opportunities, Lebanese immi-
to the exercise equipment and yoga mats, fashioned
grants began settling around Lac La Biche in the early
into a meeting place. Here I wait while Albert Moghrabi,
1900s. By the late 1940s, the community was substantial,
the owner of Lac La Biche Sporting Goods Ltd., finishes
and today the town of about 2,800 has the largest Leba-
with a customer. It’s a busy time of year and Moghrabi
nese per capita population in North America – around
is reluctant to leave the floor. Customers have come to
300, according to Statistics Canada.
expect his handshake and smile, his expertise and expe-
Native to the Lakeland region, minks eat fish, and with
rience, and, of course, his camel jokes. He’s an excellent
150 lakes in the area, the supply of feed was abundant.
salesman – no joke – and for the past several years this
Because demand for their fur was high, wild minks were
store has sold more Honda ATVs than any other retailer
captured, domesticated and farmed. “A lot of people made
in North America.
a lot of money,” Moghrabi says about the mink farming
When Moghrabi joins me, he too is drawn to the view.
industry in 1940s and 1950s. His father, sponsored by his
He points out the single building between his store and
sister and her husband, already owners of a prosperous
the lake. “I was born there,” he says. It doesn’t look any-
mink farm, came to Alberta hoping to provide a better
thing like a hospital, and as I find out, serving as a hospi-
life for his children.
tal is only a part of the building’s rich history.
60
Chaffic had an adventurer’s soul. Before Canada, he
Originally, it was the MacArthur Inn, built in 1916 by
conquered Africa. Every summer, he’d travel from the
J.D. MacArthur, who was completing the rail line link-
north to the southern tip as a peddler. Albert chuckles.
ing Edmonton and Lac La Biche. Taken with the region’s
“You know Hertz? Well, in Africa, instead of rent-a-car,
natural beauty and certain it would soon rival Jasper
you could rent-a-camel.” Camels aside, selling wares
and Banff as a tourist destination, he conceived the inn
across a poor continent necessitates communication
as an upscale hotel. But just two years later, after a fatal
skills. Chaffic spoke seven languages and added English
boating accident, the hotel closed. In 1937, it reopened
to his repertoire after arriving in Alberta. By 1953, Chaf-
as a hospital, which it remained until burning down in
fic had done well enough to purchase land, start his own
1989. The town council, on which Moghrabi sat as deputy
mink farm and send for his wife and seven children. Nine
mayor, declared the building a historical site. But instead
months after the family arrived, on January 1, 1954, Al-
of rebuilding just for commemoration, it now houses the
bert was born. Five more children followed.
town offices and library. MacArthur Place captures the
Although the mink farm didn’t make the family
co-existence not only of the historical and modern, but
wealthy, they earned enough to get by. Then, on Febru-
also industry and tourism, the essence of Lac La Biche.
ary 22, 1965, tragedy struck. “I lost my mother to a snow-
This accomplishment pleases Moghrabi.
storm,” says Albert. Every day, fishermen would drop off
There’s another significance. MacArthur built the
three boxes of fresh fish at the end of their driveway. It was
inn conveniently next to the railway station – the sta-
Albert and his brother’s job to load the fish onto a tobog-
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
Albert Moghrabi’s parents, Hamoi (left) and Chaffic
gan and pull it 20 feet to the grinding house where mink
Although his mother’s death and his father’s subse-
feed was prepared. But on that day, the snow was too deep
quent withdrawal into poetry were “dark days” for his
for the boys to pull the toboggan and they were too small
family, Albert says he is thankful for what he learned:
to lift the boxes themselves. His mother, a strong woman –
“I appreciate what I have. Because you never know what
five-foot-eleven and 265 pounds – went out into the
will happen.” He emerged from childhood mature and
snowstorm. She suffered a stroke. Eleven-year-old Albert
self-possessed. At 17, he met the girl he wanted to marry
and his brother dragged their mother into the house. She
– she was 16 and of Ukraine heritage – and when neither
died two days later. She was 48.
family would consent to the marriage, he went to court to
Chaffic was never the same. For three years, his he
get permission. She became a Muslim and they married
spent his nights writing poetry. He wrote “on anything,
in Canada’s second oldest Mosque, built in Lac La Biche
scraps of paper, cardboard, paper napkin,” Albert recalls.
in 1958. Married for 34 years, they have five children, a
But being a poet is one thing; being both mother and
growing number of grandchildren and a successful fam-
father is another. Albert’s eldest brother Russell and his
ily business.
wife moved next door to help raise the children and run
At 21, Albert opened the Lac La Biche Sporting Goods,
the farm. A few years later, when using the auger to grind
which has consumed much of his life. Not that he’s com-
fish, Chaffic severed all the fingers from his right hand.
plaining – as he likes to say, he’s the victim of his own
He retired, giving the farm entirely to Russell. In the late
success. And like his father before him, Albert is driven
1960s, mink farming was a dying industry, partly because
to give his children a better life. Sometimes he’d like a
of humane societies campaigning against fur, partly be-
chance to play with some of the toys his store carries, but
cause the industry had moved to Scandinavia. And by
he’s too busy. At least he has that second floor window,
1978, when Russell finally gave up, the industry in Al-
from which he can see his birthplace, remember his fa-
berta was largely dead.
ther, and take in the spectacular view.
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
61
Don Stanley
T
HE BOSTON BRUINS OFFERED DON
Stanley a hockey contract, but he
figured he could make a better living
as an engineer. He was right. In 1954,
with a desire to design water systems in
prairie towns, he opened D.R. Stanley &
Associates in Edmonton. He drove nearly
30,000 kilometres in four months to land
clients, laying the foundations for today’s
Stantec Inc., a 4,500-person multidiscipline design firm with more than 50 offices across North America. Don Stanley
died in 2001. His successor, Ron Triffo,
Stantec’s president from 1983 to 1998,
talked to Alberta Venture about his colleague and friend.
took on the role of a mentor and a strategist without having the
He agonized over every job that went to someone else. Every job
day-to-day operational guidance and control that he executed
we thought should have been ours was always a terrific loss.
for so many years earlier in his career.
There had to be a post-mortem to figure out just where we’d
The business that we’re in is really cyclical. There were times
gone wrong. Don never got to the point
when the province was prospering and there was a lot of work
where he felt, “You win some you lose
around, but there were a lot of lean years when it was difficult
some.” Never.
getting jobs. There just wasn’t work available. Those were the
“When you get bigger
you can’t just reach
across the desk and
grab people on the
shoulder and say,
‘Hey, what are you
doing today?’”
62
His objective was to build an organi-
toughest times for Don. You become an extended family and
zation that he could be proud of profes-
then when the well goes dry you’ve got to battle your way
sionally and commercially. He wanted the
through. For a number of years just keeping the organization
organization to be as large as it could be
afloat was very difficult for Don. There were two or three oc-
and demonstrate that as you got bigger
casions during the early years when cutbacks were severe and
you could get involved in larger technical
things were bumpy and he wondered if he’d make the next pay-
works and smaller jobs as well. He realized
roll. On Fridays, when he was supposed to write the paychecks,
his own limitations, that he could manage
he’d be anxiously scouring the mail to see if a certain cheque had
only so large an organization personally
arrived so he’d be able to cover everything. I think those were
because of his own desire to have his hands on everything. When
the types of things that developed the character of Don Stanley.
you get bigger all of a sudden you have offices and people that
He had a lot of staying power. He was almost stubborn about it.
report to you; you can’t just reach across the desk and grab peo-
Things were just going to work. It didn’t matter what “it” was –
ple on the shoulder and say, “Hey, what are you doing today?”
it was going to be overcome and there would be a better day
He recognized that. When we transitioned into a larger firm, he
tomorrow. And dog-gonnit, there was.
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
“There is a great
need today for
an effective
political voice to
represent natural
resources.”
Jack Gallagher
J
ACK GALLAGHER FIRST EXPERIENCED CANADA’S
I suggest that a natural-resource-based party would have
North as a 20-year-old geology student. He
almost immediate acceptance in the west, in Northern Ontario
went on to work for a couple of oil companies,
and in the Atlantic Provinces. If this party could elect say, 30 or
but he didn’t forget the Arctic’s energy potential,
40 members in the next federal house, it could readily demand
founding Dome Petroleum in 1950 and tapping into
at least three portfolios in a coalition cabinet with either the
the North’s oilfields. Dome collapsed under a $7 billion
Progressive Conservatives or the Liberals, and thereby exert con-
debt in 1982, but Gallagher is remembered for transform-
siderably more power and independence than is the case when
ing Calgary into a head-office city, and for a smile that
a cabinet minister from natural resource areas of our country
Peter C. Newman wrote “has a life of its own.” Gallagher
represent one constituency. Logically, the cabinet posts held by
was also interested in politics, as this 1973 letter to former
this resource party should include Agriculture and Energy… .
premier Ernest Manning shows.
I suggest that this resource-based party be called “Canada
Party” so that ultimately it could properly represent the whole
Dear Mr. Manning:
of this country.
As you are aware, there is a great need today for an effec-
The purpose of this note is to see if you would be interested
tive political voice to represent Canadian Natural Resources. As
in politically taking an active position in the formation of such
Canada is obviously going to continue to have at least three
a party. I suggest that initially the leader should be a relatively
national parties with historical loyalties and financial support
young, politically-prominent person from Western Canada. I am
from non-resource based interests, I suggest that it is timely to
prepared to give financial support to the formation of such a
immediately form a free-enterprise-oriented, natural-resource-
party and I know that additional help would be readily forth-
based party which could properly represent agriculture, forestry
coming. Please do not hesitate to call me collect at the above
products, fisheries, minerals and petroleum interests. This party
number if you care to discuss this proposal in more detail.
would provide the Balance of Power in the many future minority
governments that we are bound to have on the federal scene,
Sincerely,
and thereby offset the present drift to socialism.
J.P. Gallagher
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
63
“You were
less likely to
be hung on
a lamppost
in Alberta.”
Sandy Mactaggart
W
HEN SANDY MACTAGGART AND JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
had very little capital. But on arrival, it took us about two weeks
met at Harvard, they took three letters from
to realize that was a crazy idea. So we took jobs to find out how
each of their names and formed a company called
to build houses. Edmonton was expanding. There was a strong
Maclab – before they decided what they would do. They
demand.
weren’t sure where to start, either. Maclab Construction
I think we wanted to build better housing than the run-of-
was incorporated in Edmonton in 1954, building sub-
the-mill boxes. We both had good educations and came from
divisions, then apartment and office high-rises. Maclab
widely travelled backgrounds. So we believed in trying out ideas
Enterprises has grown into the largest privately-held resi-
that had been successful elsewhere. I think our early days were
dential property holder in Alberta and the Northwest Ter-
no different from anyone’s – attempting to create an efficient
ritories. It also operates hotels in Edmonton, Jasper and
company with insufficient resources, juggling incoming cash
Yellowknife. Sandy Mactaggart talked to Alberta Venture.
with out-flowing commitments, keeping up with new opportunities, being able to step back and make sense and direction out
At business school, we looked at a map of the world to determine
64
of a dynamic chaotic situation.
where, no matter how stupid you were, the coming prosperity
Our goal was to make a living and have fun doing it, to cre-
would float all ships. Oil had been found in Alberta and Ven-
ate a product that would benefit the community, to use profits
ezuela. You were less likely to be hung on a lamppost in Alberta.
creatively, for ourselves and for the community. One of our high-
And if you failed, none of your friends and family in Europe would
lights was discovering that for a short time we owned more land
know. Initially we had decided to start a restaurant, because we
within city limits than anyone else except governments.
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
Don Southern
T
HEY’RE UBIQUITOUS AT OILFIELD CAMPS AND
construction sites: ATCO trailers. But for the
ably not be in conflict with a fire department regulation that said
you could not have another job outside of the fire department.
Calgary-headquartered ATCO Group, tempo-
By the time we took that trip to Vancouver I had purchased
rary housing is just part of an empire that in-
lots and built and sold two houses. I made a little bit of profit.
cludes power generation, electricity, gas, pipelines and
I was scratching everywhere to find something that I could do
the defence industry. In 2004, revenue totalled $3.3
on my own in order to get away from the fire department. Not
billion. Ron Southern, chairman of the board, grew the
that the fire department wasn’t a good job. It was a damn good
company into a multinational after taking the helm in
job and very rewarding in many respects, but I wanted to be
the mid 1950s. But it was Ron’s father, Don Southern, a
my own boss. I wanted to get away from being given orders –
truck driver turned firefighter, who had the original idea
I wanted to give orders! I bought some property and started
back in 1946. The following is an excerpt from an inter-
Alberta Trailer Sales Ltd. I borrowed a little bit of money and
view he did at the Glenbow Archives in 1978.
bought trailers and started to sell them. With the oilfields and
the geophysical crews wanting to get out and needing hous-
After coming out of the air force I came back to Calgary with
ing in order to take their families with them, the mobile home
$1,500 in gratuity money and I took my wife on a trip to Vancou-
seemed to be the answer. I eventually became the largest mobile
ver. While we were there I noticed that some enterprising young
home dealer in western Canada…. We sold $1 million worth of
man had built little two-wheel trailers that were for hire for $2 a
trailers in the early 1950s – and at those prices that was a lot
day. I thought that I could handle a business like that and prob-
of trailers.
Don Southern (left) and son Ron Southern
“It was a
damn good
job and very
rewarding, but
I wanted to
give orders.”
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
65
He rubbed
shoulders with
celebrities like
Muhammad Ali
yet always stopped
to chat with the
Safeway cashier.
Stu Hart
T
BY ANTONELLA FANELLA
HE LATE 1970S AND EARLY
1980s were the golden
age of wrestling in Cal-
gary. On Friday nights, fans
would pack the Victoria Pavil-
ion to watch the stars of Stampede
Wrestling, The Stomper and The
Dynamite Kid, battle each other.
The matches were broadcast on
television the next afternoon. My
father would settle down in front
of our old Zenith console, and my
brother and I sat with him – much to our mother’s dis-
dreamed of one day living in a mansion like Edmonton’s
may. She needn’t have worried. Wrestling, in those days,
sprawling Magrath estate.
anyway, was simply harmless fun.
amateur wrestler, winning many provincial and national
“Stu” Hart, a maverick and icon of Calgary popular cul-
championships. He enlisted in the navy in 1942 but spent
ture. Hart was born on a Saskatchewan farm in 1915. In
most of his time on land, donning wrestling trunks three
the 1920s, his family moved to Tofield, Alberta and later
or four days a week to entertain the troops. Honourably
to Edmonton. Hart’s early years were marked by abject
discharged in 1946, he headed to New York City, where
poverty – the family spent one frigid Alberta winter in
he met two people who changed his life: a wrestling pro-
a tent. When his father was imprisoned after a land dis-
moter named Joe “Toots” Mondt and a gorgeous brunette
pute, Hart and his sisters were made wards of the court
named Helen Smith. Hart married Helen in 1947 and to-
and placed in the custody of the Salvation Army. Hart was
gether they returned to Alberta and founded a wrestling
determined to make something of himself. Influenced
dynasty.
by Dale Carnegie’s book The Power of Positive Thinking, he
66
An all-around athlete, Hart established himself as an
Stampede Wrestling was the brainchild of Stewart E.
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
Hart began promoting wrestling cards in Edmonton in
1948. Four years later, he purchased the Calgary territory
for $50,000. Under Hart’s guidance, Stampede Wrestling
became a successful enterprise with an audience that extended from Antigua to Uganda. In 1952, Hart also purchased the stately, three-storey Crandell House on the
western outskirts of Calgary, fulfilling his dream of living
in a mansion.
Hart continued to wrestle professionally until the
1950s, but by then his appearances were infrequent. He
concentrated on the promotion end of the business and
generated so much worldwide acclaim that a flood of
young men were eager to work for Hart. “My real ambition in wrestling is to work a territory such as Stampede
full time,” Mick Foley, who went on to become WWF sensation Mankind, wrote in 1988. Hart trained countless
emerging wrestling stars in the infamous “dungeon,” a
gym located in the basement of Hart House. All eight of
his sons got involved in the wrestling business; two of
them, Bret and Owen, became international superstars.
With wrestling in Calgary and Edmonton very sucin life: antique furniture, Cadillacs and alligator cowboy boots. But the popularity of wrestling was cyclical.
When audiences waned, so did gate receipts; annual
totals ranged from $54,000 to $721,000. A child of the
depression, Hart was incredibly self-sufficient, mending
the children’s clothes and coifing his wife’s hair to save
money. But he never scrimped on food. “Fast food ruins
Ronald Banister
A
cessful in the early 1950s, Hart acquired the finer things
FAILED HARDWARE STORE OWNER, A FORTU-
nate air force pilot, and the self-proclaimed
worst insurance salesman ever, Ronald
Banister is better known as Canada’s pipe-
line pioneer. He mortgaged his house in
your taste buds,” he argued, “then you can’t enjoy a good
1948 to buy a used ditching machine for
prime rib dinner.”
$1,500, hauled it to Leduc, buried a line
“If you don’t have
a parchment, that
doesn’t mean you’re
not educated.”
Hart has often been described as having a gruff exteri-
for Imperial and in 1949 formed Banis-
or, yet beneath the veneer was a kind, gentle man. He was
ter Construction. Landing pipeline jobs
a study in contrasts: a masculine and rugged man who
throughout North America and eventu-
wasn’t afraid to run a vacuum cleaner or don an apron to
ally the Middle East, Banister’s company was earning
cook in his kitchen. He rubbed shoulders with interna-
$700 million a year when he sold controlling interest in
tional celebrities like Muhammad Ali yet always stopped
1989. The following comment is from a 1970 article in
to chat with the Safeway cashier during his weekly shop-
the Alberta Business Journal.
ping trips.
In 2001, Hart was awarded the Order of Canada. He
The mistake a lot of people make is that if you don’t have a
was stunned by the news – the prestigious award is nor-
parchment, you’re not educated. If a university graduate enters
mally given to people like David Suzuki – and was sure
a business he’s still got to learn that business. He might be an
it was a gag. “I thought it was some wrestler paying me
engineer but if he’s going into the management end of things,
back,” he chuckled. When Hart died in October 2003,
he’s got to learn a whole new set of rules.
his funeral was attended by a who’s who of professional
wrestling. His death marked the end of an era. As longtime friend Frank Sissons remarked, “They don’t make
them like Stu Hart anymore.”
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
67
“It was boom
time. Leduc was
put on the map.”
William Lede
W
ILLI A M LEDE’S FIR ST FOR AY INTO
business was modest: a coal strip-
ping and gravel operation he started in
1945. Two years later, when oil was struck
at Leduc No. 1, Lede’s Leduc Construction
built the access road. In 1949, the company dug holes and set power poles in
place for a rural electrification project – using
machines that Lede designed and built. After
moving into road work, Leduc Construction
adopted the slogan “We Move The Earth.” From those
ing times. And it was all bid work – you had to make sure your
origins emerged Ledcor, Canada’s second-largest multidis-
bid was low enough, but high enough to make a profit.
ciplinary construction company. Lede served as Leduc’s
We looked at moving to Edmonton from Leduc. We drove
mayor for 12 years after 12 years on council. He died in an
around the city and looked. But being the mayor held him in
industrial accident in 1980 but his sons, Dave and Cliff,
Leduc. We had lots of friends here, too. And it was a boom time.
remain involved with Ledcor. Alberta Venture spoke to
Leduc was put on the map. There were a lot of problems, trying
Lede’s widow, Florence.
to keep up with all the growth because of all the oil. He wore two
hats: Leduc Construction and the City of Leduc. He did a very
They had machines there at the Leduc No. 1 site and were asked
to do the lease work by Imperial, but as soon as the well blew
Imperial brought in their own people. That was short-lived.
The majority of their work in the oilfields was with Texaco,
68
good job balancing both.
There was never too much work discussed around the dinner
table. Bill never brought his problems home. A job was always
available to Dave and Cliff for summer work when they were
then they branched out into highway construction. It was just a
teenagers. Then they started working full-time when they gradu-
matter of trying to get work whenever you could get work in the
ated from university. They were involved in the company already,
early days. He put in long, long hours in the beginning. Things
but Bill being who he was, they had to work their way up just like
weren’t handed to you on a platter. There were many discourag-
everybody else.
ALBERTA VENTURE | THE CENTURY
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