The Last Act: Pierre Trudeau, the Gang of Eight, and the Fight for Canada (History of Canada) - Hardcover

Alberta also stepped forward to take Quebec ’s side in combating Ottawa. Politics has seldom seen stranger bedfellows than the stiff conservative from Calgary and the slovenly social democrat from the Gaspé. Circumstances made them as tight as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They had a common enemy in Pierre Trudeau and the federal government. They respected each other’s courage and needed each other’s strength. . . . Lougheed was Lévesque’s sole line of communication to the Gang of Eight and the one premier he trusted to be with him to the very end. Calling him “the most remarkable man on the prairies in his time,” Lévesque concluded that the Albertan was “so passionately concerned about sovereignty in his own way that, even though opposing us, he can understand our position.”

“Likeable isn’t the right word,” Lougheed said of the Quebec premier. “He was shrewd, affable, and naturally friendly. He saw me as an ally, and we worked closely together to stop Trudeau’s unilateral action. But dealing with a separatist who had just tried to take Quebec out of Canada was always front and centre in my mind, and it made me uneasy about where we were at and where we would end up.”