Link Byfield is seen at home in Rivière Qui Barre, Alberta.PAUL DALY/The Globe and Mail
His former magazine co-workers remember the plaque that hung on a wall in his office. "Illigetimi non carborundum," it read in pseudo-Latin. Don't let the bastards grind you down.
That was never a problem for Link Byfield, because if anyone was doing the grinding it was him – the fearless, rabble-rousing columnist and publisher who gave Alberta's brand of Western conservatism a voice through Alberta Report. Not only that, Mr. Byfield co-founded Alberta's Wildrose political party and twice ran for office only to lose both times.
Undaunted, he went back to writing and pushing for government accountability before his death on Jan. 24 from esophageal cancer. The disease had already metastasized when it was diagnosed. He was 63.
That Eric Linkord Byfield would be a journalist sticking his nose into untidy stories was a given considering who his parents were. He was born on Dec. 5, 1951, in Ottawa to Ted and Virginia (née Nairn), who had met as journalists at The Ottawa Journal. The family, which grew to include six children, moved first to Winnipeg, where Ted worked at The Winnipeg Free Press and later to Edmonton, where the couple started Alberta Report.
Meanwhile, Link embarked on journey of self-discovery in his late teens and early 20s. He was a hippie who hitchhiked across the country and was busted on a marijuana charge that landed him in Manitoba's Headingley prison. He eventually got hooked on journalism.
In 1979, the senior Mr. Byfield combined two publications to bulk up Alberta Report, a weekly magazine that was both relevant and feisty. Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning said the new Alberta Report "offered an integrated sense of faith, ideas and politics combined for the common good."
To keep the magazine afloat, Ted Byfield and his wife, Virginia, a pepper pot of a journalist who died last summer, remortgaged their family home more than once. In 1986, Link Byfield had the opportunity to take over the magazine and did so, determined to prove that no subject was too troublesome or taboo to write about.
Former Alberta Report editor Paul Bunner can attest to that. He returned from vacation one summer and was greeted by "[an Alberta] Report cover featuring a guy parading in a leather jockstrap and feather headdress under the headline, 'Can Gays be Cured?'
"I feared litigation or a human rights complaint would come of it," said Mr. Bunner, now editor of the C2C Journal. "But our long-suffering lawyer was unperturbed, calling it one of our best covers ever."
Sun Media columnist Lorne Gunter worked at Alberta Report and penned a Link Byfield tribute, recalling how 17 staff members were able to put out a 64-page magazine every week.
"We were like a journalism M*A*S*H unit," Mr. Gunter wrote. "Stories came at us fast and furiously. We hammered them out as quickly as possible and passed them along to the printers."
There was never a shortage of stories, including those that could whip up a proper frenzy. One such example happened in 1986 when the federal government awarded a long-term contract for servicing its CF-18 fighter jets to Canadair in Montreal, and not to Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg.
Bristol had submitted the cheaper bid. Mr. Byfield saw the decision as another swipe at the West, this one perpetrated by then-prime minister Brian Mulroney. It produced a cache of spitballs that Mr. Byfield could fire at Mr. Mulroney and his fellow Conservatives. It was also a reason why Mr. Byfield eventually met with Mr. Manning to discuss the Reform Party as an idea whose time had come.
When the Reform Party disappeared, Mr. Byfield was spurred to action, co-founding the provincial Wildrose Party in 2007. Twice he ran for office as a Wildrose candidate and twice he failed to win a seat in the Alberta legislature.
"Totalling it up," Mr. Bunner said of Mr. Byfield's pursuits, "there were successes and some failures. [Mr. Byfield was voted an independent senator in waiting, but withdrew his name after waiting six years. As well, Alberta Report suffered from financial hemorrhaging and was shut down in 2003.] But his success as a father and a husband were at the top of the list."
Known for his willingness to debate, Mr. Byfield had a reputation for being a columnist with a made-in-Alberta chip on his shoulder. It served him well when he needed to hold politicians accountable for their words and promises.
But on the day after his death, his family wanted people to know of Mr. Byfield's other side; how he was a loving father; kind and compassionate; a man willing to do all he could for his wife, Joanne, and their four children.
"He was not that way at all," Elise Byfield said of her father's confrontational public persona. "He was very calm, very gentle, reflective. He was an understanding guy."
If sparks flew in 1978 when Mr. Byfield met Joanne, his future wife, it wasn't because of love at first sight.
According to Joanne, Mr. Byfield went into her office [she also worked at Alberta Report, in advertising] and "he wanted to borrow something and he wasn't very happy when we didn't have it. I wasn't impressed."
The second time they met was the charm. He introduced himself, gave her a ride in his car and they talked and got to know each other. That was when the sparks flew in the right way.
"I liked when he wrote about the family – the hike, the trip – partly because they were my kids [featured in the stories]," Joanne said. "Those columns expressed what was important to him."
Mr. Byfield on hockey: "Just as certain kinds of horses don't gallop and some breeds of dogs don't hunt, Byfields don't skate."
Mr. Byfield on the horse he got for his kids: "He'd clump along with those bucket-sized feet, looking for gopher mounds to stumble on – it was like riding an old tractor stuck in first gear across a plowed field."
The Byfield kids, all grown up now, said they were going to miss the many family dinners where topics were raised, opinions expressed and everyone got a turn at being heard. Silas Byfield said that whenever he visited a friend's house and ate there, he was always surprised by how quiet things were.
"I didn't know you could have a family dinner without arguing," Silas said, then laughed.
Only Colman Byfield has taken the path well trodden by his father and grandfather. Colman is a columnist with The Edmonton Sun. Asked why he signed on for a newspaper job, Colman replied that his dad, "threatened me with a shovel." Only kidding.
"I sort of fell into it," Colman continued. "I wanted to write fiction."
Last September, Link Byfield's friends and colleagues held a tribute dinner for him at the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, in Calgary. At that point, Mr. Byfield had been told he had two years to live. Instead, he had just four months. The priest from the Catholic church where Mr. Byfield worshipped pointed out that he died on the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers and journalists.
Ironically, Mr. Byfield did some saintly work of his own. As the publisher of Alberta Report, he established a program that took in interested kids and let them work in the magazine's newsroom. In turn, the Manning Centre and C2C Journal created the Link Byfield Journalism Legacy Fund in his memory.
The first to contribute to the fund was Tom McFeely, one of those kids who toured the Alberta Report newsroom and found his calling. Mr. McFeely is an editor with the U.S.-based National Catholic Register. He has donated $25,000.
Mr. Byfield leaves his wife, Joanne; four children, Eli, Colman, Silas and Elise; father, Ted; four siblings, Mike, Mary Fran, Vincent and Thomas; and six grandchildren. He was predeceased by his mother, Virginia, and sister, Philippa.
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