If there's one province that simply won't stand for arrogance in its politicians, you'd think it would be Alberta.

Pierre Trudeau, who couldn't even escape the venom in the immediate days following his death, found that out the hard way. So, too, did Brian Mulroney, who made the fatal mistake of taking his Western votes for granted and wound up spawning the Reform Party. And it hardly needs pointing out that, if Jean Chretien is looking for a friendly vacation spot anytime soon, he'd probably be best to look somewhere other than Banff or Jasper.

What boggles the mind, then, is that the province continues to put up with Ralph Klein.

In fairness, there's some grousing emerging from Alberta about the rather blatant way in which the Premier is now just going through the motions. Former supporters bemoan his lackadaisical approach to his job, his apparent disinterest in the sorts of radical policies that he built a national reputation on, and a forthcoming bid for a fourth straight mandate that will serve no purpose other than to feed his ego. But on the evidence of what the rest of us saw from him this week, Mr. Klein has gotten off far too easy.

Five years ago, Mr. Chretien made the foolish decision to skip King Hussein of Jordan's funeral in favour of continuing his skiing vacation. His excuse that he couldn't get there from Whistler in time was particularly lame, and his subsequent apology seemed forced and insincere. Quite rightly, he was pilloried both across the country and abroad - and particularly by critics in Western Canada who couldn't stand him in the first place.

Now, let's pretend that Mr. Chretien had instead pulled what Mr. Klein did at this week's federal-provincial health summit. Suppose he had skipped out on an event with a significant impact upon his government's ability to perform its number one priority - one that actually affects the lives of Canadians - rather than the funeral of a foreign leader. Suppose he had tried to work it to his advantage, claiming that the event would be a "gong show" and then doing his utmost to turn it into just that. Suppose that, on the one evening he deigned to spend at the three-day event, he had bailed out early on an important dinner in favour of the local casino. And, just to cap it off, pretend that all this was justified on the basis that he had to head off to a love-in with deep-pocketed supporters because there were "no bloody votes" to be had at the summit.

Most likely, it would have ended with many of Mr. Chretien's own caucus members - perhaps even a few who weren't previously out to dethrone him - calling for his resignation. And that, in a province where no other party has any reasonable chance at forming government, is precisely what Mr. Klein's MLAs should be doing.

At a conference at which none of the participants covered themselves in glory, Mr. Klein's performance stood out as a particular embarrassment - not just to himself, but to the voters who will almost certainly hand him another mandate before the end of the calendar year.

To leave his province as the only one insufficiently represented at this week's talks was an affront to every Albertan taxpayer. Mr. Klein's defenders would contend that Alberta's interests would have been ignored anyway - that the conference would inevitably have focused almost exclusively on throwing cash (including equalization dollars) at poorer provinces. But how he helped matters by turning that into a self-fulfilling prophecy, refusing even to attempt to represent Alberta's interests, will remain a mystery.

It's not just Albertans who should be furious. For years, conservatives nationwide have heralded Mr. Klein as the only premier with sufficient moxie to challenge the health care status quo. For them, it must be particularly galling that he passed up a prime opportunity to do that so he could take refuge with his friends back home - not to mention that his only real contribution during his brief drop-in at the conference was to demand that Ottawa inject somewhere between $65- and $100-billion into the system.

Once upon a time, Mr. Klein's name was seriously bandied about as a potential leader for the federal united right. In his present incarnation, it's hard to imagine most Conservatives would have him. And if they applied the same standard to him as they do to federal politicians, neither would most Albertans.