Ralph Klein will probably go down as one of the more quotable politicians Canada has ever produced.

His predecessors as premier of Alberta and leaders of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party were the buttoned-down, MBA-educated Peter Lougheed and the amiable former quarterback and oil executive Don Getty.

Neither one ever gave a protester the finger. Ralph did it as environment minister during a 1990 meeting about a contentious pulp mill project.

One agitated protester advanced in front of Klein and flipped him the middle digit. Klein didn't miss a beat, glaring and flipping it right back at him.

"He doesn't take any guff from anybody," Don Martin, political columnist and author of the biography King Ralph, told CTV.ca about Klein. "And what was the result? His popularity went up five per cent."

The son of a professional wrestler, Klein first worked in public relations and then began an 11-year run as a popular reporter with CFCN TV in Calgary, a CTV affiliate. He shocked his friends by announcing in 1980 he would run for mayor and then shocked everyone by winning.

He then got his chance to shock the country by complaining in January 1982 about "eastern creeps and bums" driving up the crime rate in Calgary.

"That put him on the national scene, but he handled it so beautifully in terms of damage control. He went right down to eastern Canada and dealt with it," Martin said.

"So off he went, and before you know it, he's the toast of Toronto," he said. "He learned something from that, that you can talk your way out of trouble, and he did."

Here are some of Klein's choicer remarks over the years:

 "I wasn't suprised that she crossed over to the Liberals. I don't think she ever did have a Conservative bone in her body. Well, maybe one.

Klein at a charity roast, talking about Tory turncoat Belinda Stronach -- who used to date Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay -- on Nov. 7, 2006.

"You get a lot of free dinners but after that you get sort of tired, especially when you quit drinking, and then it's no fun at all, so I don't know why they would want to do it."

Klein talking to reporters at the Calgary Stampede on July 10, 2006 about his potential successors.

In the same scrum, he said: "I wake up in the morning and I say, 'Why am I here?' And it's because I'm not all there!"

"I'm no doctor, but I think that Mr. McGuinty's got a case of premature speculation.

Klein in March 2006, commenting on Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's declaration that Ontario would oppose any Alberta-style health reforms that might lead to two-tiered care.

 "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."

Klein apologizing in the Alberta legislature on March 1, 2006 after throwing a Liberal Party health policy booklet and narrowly missing a legislature page.

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

Klein speaking to a Tory provincial election campaign rally in Calgary on Oct. 27, 2004. He was talking about two women who were "yipping about AISH payments," which go to Albertans who are severely handicapped.

He later followed up on that in Grande Prairie by saying: "I'm sure none of you want to talk to me about AISH. No, because you're normal -- severely normal people."

"You would have to eat 10 billion meals of brains, spinal cords, ganglia, eyeballs and tonsils."

Klein in 2005 on the risk being infected with bovine spongiform encephalitis, or mad cow disease.

"We're basically the same party, you know. Conservatives and Republicans are quite the same."

Klein speaking to reporters in Washington after a 2003 meeting with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I guess any self-respecting rancher would have shot, shovelled and shut up, but he didn't do that."

Klein's 2003 advice to an Alberta farmer on what he should have done after finding a BSE-infected cow in his heard.

 "Dinosaur farts."

Klein's 2002 offering on what might have brought on the Ice Age that killed off dinosaurs.

"I'm going to try and stay clean as long as I can, but if from time to time I have a glass of wine, don't make a mountain out of a mole hill."

Ralph Klein after an infamous December 2001 incident in which he showed up inebriated at a homeless shelter in Edmonton, berated some of the residents for not having jobs, then throwing money on the floor and leaving.

At the same newser, he said, "I'm telling you, it feels good to get up without a hangover."

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Ralph's World."

Klein addressing his supporters on March 12, 2001 after winning a landslide victory in the 2001 provincial election.

"A fine city with too many socialists and mosquitoes. At least you can spray the mosquitoes."

Klein speaking in 1990 as a Progressive Conservative MLA from Calgary.

Great instincts

While Klein frequently shot from the lip, he had great instincts about when it was time to turn on a dime and apologize, Martin said.

"I was talking to him about Peter MacKay today," Martin said on Oct. 30, referring to the federal Conservative minister accused of implying Tory-turned-Liberal MP and former girlfriend Belinda Stronach was a dog. "He said, 'Did he say it?' And I said, 'I think he said it.' And Klein said, 'Well, if he said it and didn't apologize for it, then he's not a very smart politician'."

Klein was so famous for his mea culpas that when he left Calgary's city hall to enter provincial politics in 1989, his staff gave him sweatshirt that had "I'm only human" printed on it.

"And he is. That's the interesting thing about Klein. He's not a robot like so many of the politicians today."

While those outside the province might raise their eyebrows at Klein's pronouncements, one had to understand that Albertans had a long-term relationship with Klein and realized he wasn't being malicious, Martin said.

A few too many drinks

However, even Klein can't wave off some things. His appearance at the Edmonton homeless shelter was a bottom.

Although right-wing radio talk show callers supported Klein, that incident embarrassed most other Albertans, Martin said.

"He understood that and said he couldn't just shrug his shoulders and say, 'I'm only human, I had a couple drinks.' He had to go one step further and take a public vow of abstinence."

Martin met with Klein on Monday in Calgary's St. Louis tavern, where Klein as mayor used to hold court, and was amazed to see Klein drinking coffee out of a beer glass.

"I'm going, 'that's a first for me; I've seen everything now'," he said.

Actually, Martin speculated that Klein's quitting drinking may have been partly responsible for what some saw as a decline in the premier's political acuity.

"I've always argued that Klein's social connections, his political antennae were fine-tuned by the fact that he'd go to these receptions. He'd drink with people and people liked to drink with him.

"When he started to go home at 9 p.m. to watch his favourite show on the Discovery channel, he started to lose his connection with the average person."

In the 2004 provincial election, Klein -- who's never lost an election -- saw an erosion in popular support for the first time since he entered politics, Martin said.

This spring, his party voiced its displeasure, and Klein had to vacate his 14-year hold on the party's leadership about a year before he wanted to.

However, during the interview, some guys came up and asked Klein for autographs, so that's some evidence he's still popular amongst average Albertans, Martin said.

Ultimately, however, it is time for Klein to move on. "He knows it, we know it, and we're never going to see the likes of him again," Martin said.