Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has apologized to a 17-year-old legislative page after he threw a booklet near her.

Asked about why he did it, Klein told reporters Wednesday: "Frustration ... over health care."

Klein's government unveiled its health reform proposals on Tuesday, which include allowing private care for certain elective procedures.

Liberal leader Kevin Taft said he found the incident appalling.

"The premier is out of control, the government's out of control," he said, adding, "In my view, these people are no longer fit to govern."

"It is far beyond anything that I have ever seen from a public official,'' NDP Leader Brian Mason said. 

Although the incident wasn't caught by the legislature's cameras, Mason said he wished it had been so that Tory delegates to that party's April convention could see it before voting in Klein's leadership review.

The genesis of the incident is a verbal exchange between the Tories and the opposition during questions period -- which, as it happens, was being watched by a gallery full of school children.

CTV Edmonton reporter Dan Kobe said Klein told the Liberals in the provincial legislature that if they had any good ideas about health care, they should send them over to him.

The Liberals used the invitation to send over a copy of their health policy red book, which a page took over to the premier.

"The premier admits he threw it back at her and called it crap," Kobe said.

Later, Klein said: "I ought not to have thrown the Liberal health policy at our page Jennifer, and to Jennifer, I apologize most sincerely. ... And I also apologize for referring to the document as crap, Mr. Speaker."

Kobe said that while the page was in the legislature when Klein issued his apology, Klein hadn't spoken with her personally as of mid-afternoon, but that he planned to at some point.

There's no confirmation the booklet struck the page. The page refused to speak to the media.

Klein also had to apologize for calling Taft a liar.

Klein's colourful past

As part of Alberta's Centennial, the Cheers Project Humour Language Society named Klein the funniest Albertan of the last 100 years.

As mayor of Calgary during the 1970s, Klein caused an uproar by blaming "eastern creeps and bums" for his city's rising crime rate.

As environment minister, he once flipped the middle digit to an environmentalist at a news conference.

In December 2001, Klein hit bottom when he showed up inebriated late one evening at an Edmonton homeless shelter.

After berating some of the residents for not having jobs, he threw some money on the floor and left.

"I drink too much from time to time,'' Klein told reporters days later. "I'm going to resolve to control and curb my drinking. I have the support of my wife, my family, my caucus and my friends.

"I'm going to curb and control what I see as a problem. It will test my resolve and determination to do something right.''

In a 2002 speech, Klein blamed "dinosaur farts" for causing the Ice Age as part of a reference to global warning.

During the 2004 provincial election campaign, Klein told a crowd he suspected some people were abusing a guaranteed income program for the severely handicapped. He described an encounter with two women, "yipping about AISH payments."

"They didn't look severely handicapped to me, I tell you that for sure," the premier told the crowd. "They both had cigarettes dangling from their mouth and cowboy hats."

Klein has said he will not lead his party into the next provincial election.

With a report from CTV Edmonton's Dan Kobe