Ted Byfield, best known as the founder of Alberta Report magazine, passed away months ago, yet his influence continues to be felt throughout Canada and especially within Alberta, through the volumes he produced, the journalists he trained, and the activists he encouraged..Now, a definitive biography of Ted Byfield has been written by prominent social conservative writer and activist Jonathon Van Maren, author of Prairie Lion: The Life & Times of Ted Byfield. The foreword is by none other than Preston Manning. It is an outstanding book, from start to finish..Prairie Lion does what all good biographies do — explaining the subject’s life and significance. But this one seems to go a step further, conveying even the style and vigour of Byfield’s storytelling..The book begins with Byfield’s boyhood in Toronto. Interestingly, one of his uncles, Tommy Church, was mayor of Toronto and later a Conservative MP. Byfield’s father was a topnotch journalist, but also an alcoholic. That alcoholism led to his parents’ divorce, which hurt the young Byfield deeply..Byfield moved to Winnipeg in 1952 to work for the Winnipeg Free Press. He developed into a very successful and award-winning reporter. He also became convinced of the truth of historic Christianity, and therefore dedicated his life to the Christian cause. Subsequently, he co-founded the Company of the Cross — an Anglican lay organization that would operate three private schools: the St. John’s Schools in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario..In 1973, under his initiative, a weekly news magazine emerged out of the Alberta school, St. John’s Edmonton Report. Within a few years it would evolve into Alberta Report and later its sister magazines, Western Report, BC Report, etc. It was through this magazine that Byfield would have his greatest impact on Canada, and Alberta in particular..The Report magazines were not overtly religious, but their fundamental purpose was to convey the news from an underlying Christian perspective. They were also unashamedly committed to defending Western Canada against the federal government..As Van Maren explains, “The Report magazines became known as championing two primary causes: Christian values and the Canadian West. The primary enemy of both could be found in the personage of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the man responsible for decriminalizing abortion, ushering in the sexual revolution, and — at least as Ted and legions of like-minded Canadians saw it — declaring war on the West.”.During its heyday, the combined readership of the magazines was at least 400,000. They gave voice to a distinctly Western Canadian conservatism that favoured limited government, traditional morality, and Western regionalism. Indeed, it was this ideological perspective that infused the Reform Party of Canada, at least in its formative years..As the book makes clear, Ted Byfield was a key player in the formation of the Reform Party. It could not have got off the ground or flourished without his backing, especially through the publicity provided in the pages of the Report magazines. And, of course, the Reform Party had a profound impact on Canadian politics, even as it evolved and ultimately became a major component of the Conservative Party of Canada..Van Maren writes that “Ted Byfield did for Canadian conservatism what William F. Buckley did for the American right: he popularized it. A new conservative political party needed a voice, and they certainly weren’t going to get it from the mainstream media.”.By the early 1990s, Ted’s son, Link, was the editor of Alberta Report and Ted himself was less directly involved in the magazines. Instead, he devoted himself to two multi-volume book projects for the next 20 years or more. As Van Maren notes, these projects “were histories of his two great loves, Alberta and Christianity.”.The 12-volume Alberta in the 20th Century series was completed in 2003, and the 12-volume The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years series was completed in 2013..Despite his best efforts, the pro-life and pro-family causes Byfield championed lost ground over the last 50 years or so. Yet, as Van Maren explains, “Ted was an irrepressible optimist until the end, always certain that things were about to change. ... He remained convinced the post-Christian era was merely a pre-Christian era, and that a new dawn might be just around the corner.”.Ted Byfield led a remarkable and very consequential life. Readers of this impressive book will understand the impact he had and what made him tick. He may be gone, but the people he inspired continue to advocate for and act on the conservative vision he embodied. Van Maren’s biography is a fantastic tribute to a man who helped make Alberta what it is today..Prairie Lion: The Life & Times of Ted Byfield is available at the publisher’s website.
