Peter Lougheed leaving the Alberta Legislature Oct 11, 1985. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Buston
September 21, 2012 - 4:00 AM
CALGARY - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is to join other politicians and dignitaries from across Canada to say their final goodbyes to former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Lt.-Gov. Don Ethell are also planning to attend a memorial at Calgary's Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
The service is to begin at 1 p.m. MT and will be broadcast live.
There will be limited seating for the public on a first-come basis beginning at 10 a.m.
Overflow seating will be available in the gymnasium of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Lougheed died Sept. 13 of natural causes at age 84.
Earlier this week, hundreds of Albertans, including former premiers Ed Stelmach and Don Getty, filed past Lougheed's coffin in the rotunda of the legislature in Edmonton.
His family held a private funeral for him Thursday in Calgary.
Lougheed was premier from 1971 to 1985 and is credited with transforming the province into an economic powerhouse.
Under his leadership, the province successfully fought off federal encroachments on its oil wealth and invested in oilsands research that now contributes billions of dollars a year to the treasury.
He also created the multibillion-dollar Heritage Savings Trust fund to cushion the province in lean times.
Lougheed led a fledgling Progressive Conservative party to a majority victory over the Social Credit government in 1971. The Tories have held majority governments ever since in a dynasty that now exceeds four decades.
Harper has said Lougheed will be remembered as one of the seminal figures in Canadian history.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012