Peter Lougheed has been voted Canada's best premier of the past 40 years by the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

The former premier of Alberta can add the award from the non-profit organization that seeks to improve public policy in Canada by generating research to his long list, including the Order of Canada and Alberta's Order of Excellence.

Nearly 30 years out of office, Peter Lougheed is still involved in politics.

At a dinner held in his honour, Lougheed continued to urge current Premier Alison Redford to save more of Alberta's revenue from oil and gas.

“We built that whole concept of the Heritage Fund and it needs to be rebuilt premier,” he said to Redford as the crowd chuckled.

But Lougheed is a fan of Redford, who he endorsed during the recent provincial election.

“Sharing a stage with you is a terrific honour to me and I just feel very good about the future of our province,” he said.

And make no mistake the 83-year-old Lougheed still has Redford's ear.

“He has been for me, since the election, someone who I've turned to a great deal in terms of getting advice and perspective,” she said.

Redford says Lougheed earned the honours he gets by helping to define the province.

“I think it’s even informed the character of who we are as Albertans always looking forward to the future and trying to strive to do better,” she said.

Ian McDonald of the Institute for Research on Public Policy says Lougheed was as important to Canada as he was to Alberta.

“From a time when federal provincial relations were important at federal provincial conferences on everything from the constitution to health care to energy, he was a dominant player on that stage.”

McDonald says Lougheed's legacy federally and provincially will likely live on in the policies of Alberta's current premier.

With files from CBC's Erin Collins