Editing Pierre Trudeau (section)

=== Legacy in western Canada ===
Trudeau's posthumous reputation in the western provinces is notably less favourable than in the rest of English-speaking Canada, and he is sometimes regarded as the "father of [[Western alienation]]".  To many westerners, Trudeau's policies seemed to favour other parts of the country, especially [[Ontario]] and Québec, at their expense. Outstanding among such policies was the [[National Energy Program]], which was seen as unfairly depriving western provinces of the full economic benefit from their oil and gas resources, in order to pay for nationwide social programs, and make regional transfer payments to poorer parts of the country. Sentiments of this kind were especially strong in oil-rich [[Alberta]].<ref name="Stamp" /> In [[British Columbia]], [[Premier of British Columbia|Premier]] [[W. A. C. Bennett]] in 1970 argued that Trudeau's government is [[Quebec nationalist]]-oriented. He also implied that Quebec received special treatment from Ottawa as a result.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunter |first1=Iain |title=Angry Bennett declares B.C. getting a bad deal |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2240411680 |access-date=March 25, 2023 |publisher=The Vancouver Sun |date=September 17, 1970 |id={{ProQuest|2240411680}} |archive-date=April 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403234021/https://www.proquest.com/docview/2240411680 |url-status=live }}</ref>

More particularly, two incidents involving Trudeau are remembered as having fostered Western alienation, and as emblematic of it. During a visit to [[Saskatoon]], Saskatchewan on July 17, 1969, Trudeau met with a group of farmers who were protesting the [[Canadian Wheat Board]]. The widely remembered perception is that Trudeau dismissed the protesters' concerns with "Why should ''I'' sell your wheat?"&nbsp;– however, he had asked the [[rhetorical question|question rhetorically]] and then proceeded to answer it himself.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Wilson-Smith |first=Anthony |title=Chrétien Accused of Lying |via=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chretien-accused-of-lying |magazine=[[Maclean's]] |date=December 23, 1996}}</ref> Years later, on a train trip through [[Salmon Arm, British Columbia]], he "gave the finger" to a group of protesters through the carriage window{{snd}} less widely remembered is that the protesters were shouting anti-French slogans at the train.<ref>Anthony Westell, ''Paradox: Trudeau as Prime Minister''.</ref>