Peter Liba, a former Manitoba lieutenant-governor, died Thursday morning at his cottage at Lake of the Woods. He was 67.

Lt.-Gov. Peter Liba arrives at the legislature in Winnipeg on Nov. 13, 2001 to read the speech from the throne.
(Jeff De Booy/Winnipeg Free Press/Canadian Press)

Liba served as lieutenant-governor from 1999 to 2004 and is credited with opening up Government House to the public.

Flags were flown at half-mast around the Manitoba Legislature Thursday to mark Liba's death.

Many friends were surprised to hear the news, describing it as unexpected.

"I just met with him the other day and he was in great spirits and his sense of humour was just working fine," said Dwight McAuley, chief of protocol for the province.

"I'm very sad. I feel I've lost a friend."

Former Winnipeg mayor Bill Norrie said he saw the former lieutenant-governor a couple of weeks ago, before he headed out to his cottage.

"I knew he hadn't been all that well but I don't think we really realized how close it was," said Norrie, who traces his friendship with Liba back to Liba's days as a cub reporter for the Winnipeg Tribune.

Liba was hospitalized in April for a knee operation. McAuley said he had experienced some heart trouble while in hospital.

There is no word on a cause of death.

'Dreaming and scheming'

Liba also worked as Israel (Izzy) Asper's executive assistant when Asper led the Liberal Party of Manitoba in the 1970s.

Asper's daughter, Gail, shared her memories of Liba from that time: "I think it was more the image of him and my dad, hanging out together and dreaming and scheming the most outrageous things."

One of those outrageous schemes led to to creation of Izzy Asper's CanWest Global media empire.

David Asper, vice-president of the company his father founded, said the company was actually Liba's idea. Liba saw a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications advertisement in a newspaper in the mid-1970s indicating there was room on the Winnipeg dial for another TV channel, Asper said.

"He kind of brought it to my father and said, 'Well, you know, you're out of work as the Liberal leader. Maybe you want to go into television.'"

Asper called Liba's death a "tragedy," saying he had just begun work on projects he was personally passionate about, such as protecting the Upper Fort Garry site in downtown Winnipeg.

Liba is survived by his wife, Shirley, and three grown children.