After dealing with the hardship of the Depression, Alfred Gleave wanted Canadian farmers to have a strong, united voice. He dedicated most of his life to that cause.
Gleave, who died Aug. 20 at the age of 89, became involved with farm organizations and politics in 1932, and always made his voice heard as he pressed for changes that would improve the quality of life for farmers across the country.
“He was a little shrimp of a man, but he had a lot of voice,” said Gleave’s former neighbor Ken Gidluck.
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Gidluck and Gleave farmed together near Biggar, Sask., beginning in the mid-1940s and knew each other well.
After Gleave left his grain farm to pursue federal politics, Gidluck rented his land and spoke to him at least once a month. The two spent a great deal of time discussing the political issues of the day. Gidluck described Gleave as a vigorous campaigner for farmer’s rights.
“He wanted justice for the farm,” said Gidluck.
“He knew what farmers go through because he went through it.”
Active in organizations
Gleave held a variety of positions in farm organizations throughout his life. He was involved in the Saskatchewan Farmers Union, serving as vice-president from 1955-57 and president from 1957-62. He was a member of the advisory committees of the Canadian Wheat Board and the Farm Credit Corporation.
He was also a director of Sask Power and Canadian Co-operative Implements Ltd., and was a delegate to the International Wheat Agreement negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1959 and 1962. It was there that he met his wife Mary.
In 1961, Gleave became the president of the National Farmers Union. Stuart Thiesson was the executive secretary of the NFU at the time.
“He was an astute observer of the political scene and he served farmers well,” Thiesson said.
“He was careful with his buck, too.”
In 1965, Gleave entered federal politics and ran as an NDP candidate for Saskatoon-Biggar. He was defeated in his first election in 1965, but was elected to Parliament in 1968 and re-elected in 1971.
Former MP Bill Knight worked closely with Gleave during their time in Parliament and fondly remembered their first meeting.
Knight, an NDP candidate in an Assiniboia byelection, was speaking to a hall full of farmers in Midale, Sask. His speech was received with polite applause, but a “hushed respect” fell over the room when Gleave, who was also speaking, was introduced.
“You could have heard a pin drop,” Knight said.
Knight said he developed an appreciation for his co-worker’s accomplishments.
“He was one of the last great intellectual farmers. He was well-read, worked hard and at the same time was quite down to earth.”
After his election defeat in 1974, Gleave remained active in Ottawa and continued to spread his message. His belief that farmers had to band together was clearly outlined in his 1991 book United We Stand.
“At the beginning of the century, the people who came to the Prairies, those who followed them, the next generation such as myself, made a more secure and bountiful life for themselves by working together, by sharing the load.”
