Alberta’s dean of fiscal responsibility delivered a lesson in Business Management 101 to some of the keenest young minds from across the country recently as they wrapped up an intensive month of intellectual boot-camp at the University of Calgary.

But while Premier Ralph Klein may be at the top of the class when it comes to destroying deficits, he may have met his match in entrepreneurial energy as he chatted with about 60 students in the elite Shad Valley program.

Klein was on campus as a surprise guest of Shad Valley Calgary, part of a national program in which eight universities host 450 outstanding high school students in a month dedicated to learning about leadership, science, technology and entrepreneurship.

The program is supported by a blue-chip roster of 200 Canadian businesses, including energy giants Petro-Canada, Husky Energy and Shell Canada, as well as TELUS, the Royal Bank and Shaw Communications.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Premier Ralph Klein spread his message of fiscal responsibility to this year's crop of Shad students.

“These kids are from across the country, we’d like to see them in Alberta,” said Tom Keenan, dean of the U of C’s Faculty of Continuing Education and a co-director of the Shad Valley program.

“What better way to lure them to Alberta than to show them the architect of a lot of what Alberta is today, and let them ask him some questions?”

And pepper him with questions they did, ranging from his views on global warming, gun control and even Canadian space agency funding — the latter query which had the premier stumped for a second and then shrugging good-naturedly that he had zero knowledge on the topic.

But Klein did warm to his favorite subject of the debt and deficit, and gave the Shad grads a detailed history of Alberta’s economic revival.

“The truth is that the bottom line, the hard reality of dollars and cents, is an essential part of any successful endeavour,” he advised the students.

His message fell on receptive ears. This year’s crop of Shads spent a month building a business plan for products to help the disabled.

“It’s pretty cool to have someone of his stature come to speak to people at our camp,” said Warren Cheung, 18, from Nepean, Ont.

There are seven other campuses across Canada offering Shad Valley this summer, including Carleton, Dal-housie, McMaster, Lakehead, the University of New Brunswick, the University of British Columbia and the University of Waterloo. Most of the students were challenged like never before, with long days full of lectures, workshops, field trips and labs taught by top industry experts. Eleven Shads have gone on to become Rhodes scholars.

Following the program, many of the “Shads” are hired by sponsoring companies for five-week work terms.

“There are people from all over the country who have come here to be challenged,” added Laura Best, an 18-year-old from Brockville, Ont.

“And that’s the whole idea.”