About the Author

Randy Royer was born in Wetaskiwin and raised in Lethbridge. He has long roots in Alberta. His paternal forefathers came to Alberta, via Connecticut and Quebec, in the late 1890’s. His great-grandfather founded and named the town of Beaumont. On his maternal side, the family arrived from the Scottish patch of Ontario. They homesteaded south of Fort Saskatchewan on land that is still farmed by the family. The Famous Five had many meetings ‘at the farm’.

He and his five siblings were brought up working in their family’s hotels. Randy remembers washing glasses after hours in the bar at seven years old, washing dishes in the restaurant at 10 years old and being a bouncer in the cabaret at 12 years old and 6 feet tall. His mother, Alice, sometimes borrowed his wages to buy milk for the family. To her credit, she tracked it and paid it back, to the penny, when he went away to the University of Western Ontario to get his business degree. No interest was considered.

Randy, his two brothers, Terry and Greg, along with their father Dan and Randy’s life-long friend, Peter Sikora, collaborated to build a chain of hotels across most of Canada, from Quebec to British Columbia. The crown jewel was his brainchild, the Grand Okanagan Resort in Kelowna, BC. Randy became the President and CEO of the national, publicly-traded Hotel trust that the family started.

Randy was taught at a young age that “we hire representatives to go to Ottawa and Edmonton to speak for us regardless of party”. He quickly came to understand that this was not the case. He became passionate about solving ‘western alienation’ and making Canada work better for all people. According to Randy, “there was lots of good Albertans fighting for change in the Conservative Party” so in the late 70s he, and a group of friends, joined the Liberal Party. Many of the policies they advocated for became part of the Reform Party platform.

He prides himself in being one of the few people to have voted against Trudeau’s 1982 Constitution at the Liberal Party convention. His rationale was that he thought it was going to Americanize us.

He has written two previous books on politics: ‘A View from The Bottom’ and ‘The Top Ten Reasons Alberta Doesn’t Fit in This Canada’. 

Randy has been married to the love of his life, Jane (nee Khan),for 39 years (and they said it would never last!). They are blessed to have 3 children, 3 sons and daughters-in-law and one grandchild, who has them all wrapped around her little finger.

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