Editing Stan Roberts (section)

==Constitutional reform involvement==
In 1976, Roberts became the first president of the [[Canada West Foundation]].  In this capacity, he took a leading role in arguing for the position of the west in Canada's constitutional debates.<ref name="harper"/>  He also developed contacts with [[Ernest Manning|Ernest]] and [[Preston Manning]].  In late 1978, Roberts expressed interest in [[Francis Winspear]]'s proposed constitutional reforms, which included [[Senate of Canada|Senate]] reform and the equal treatment of all provinces.

During this period, Roberts made several speeches warning about the possibility of western separatism.  There were some within the Canada West Foundation who believed that Roberts himself was partly sympathetic to separatism; he never became affiliated with the movement, but was forced to step down as CWF President in December 1980 after some controversial statements on the subject. In 1980, he moved from British Columbia to Toronto<ref name="obit"/> after being named president of the [[Canadian Chamber of Commerce]].<ref name="harper"/> Roberts left that position in 1982.<ref name="lachine"/>

Roberts remained loyal to the Liberal Party during this period.  He ran for the leadership of the [[British Columbia Liberal Party]] in 1984, but lost to former [[Member of Parliament]] [[Art Lee]] on the first ballot.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8wowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j6UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2145,36030 |title=B.C. Liberals elect Lee as new leader |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |date=April 2, 1984 |page=7 |accessdate=2013-09-15}}</ref>  Roberts's participation in this contest probably prevented him from running to succeed [[Pierre Trudeau]] as leader of the federal party.  Roberts disagreed with the selection of [[John Turner]] as party leader, but he nevertheless ran for the federal Liberals in the [[Quebec]] riding of [[Lachine (electoral district)|Lachine]] in 1984, losing to [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] [[Robert Layton (politician)|Bob Layton]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/hfer.asp?Include=Y&Language=E&rid=356&Search=Det |title=Lachine, Quebec (1966 - 1973) |work=History of Federal Ridings since 1867 |publisher=Library of Parliament |accessdate=2013-09-15}}</ref>