Klein, Ralph Phillip, 1942–2013, Canadian politician, b. Calgary. He served in the Canadian air force and worked in public relations and as a weathercaster and reporter in radio and television before entering politics. Elected mayor of Calgary (1980–89), he brought the 1988 Winter Olympic Games to the city. In 1989 he was first elected to Alberta's legislature, as a Progressive Conservative, and became environment minister. Head of the provincal party from 1992, he served as premier of Alberta from 1992 to 2006. Klein cut government spending, privatized some government services, and eliminated the province's $23-billion debt, aided in part by revenues from the development of the province's extensive oil sands deposits and a period of provincial economic growth.
See biographies by F. Dabbs (1997) and D. Martin (2002).
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