ONOWAY, Alta. – The conversation shifts from farming to politics to family and back again at Cliff and Shirley Brietkreuz’s kitchen table.
The variety of interests comes naturally to Cliff, a first generation Canadian who was among the early founders of the Reform Party of Canada, a local schoolteacher and an innovative farmer.
Most recently, he and Shirley were presented with a farm family award from Edmonton’s Northlands Exhibition and the Alberta Motor Association, which recognizes outstanding families from northern and central Alberta for contributions to their rural communities.
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Living on a scenic farm near Onoway, west of Edmonton, the Brietkreuzes were recognized for community involvement and early adoption of continuous cropping, direct seeding and auto steer farm equipment.
They were among the first to grow canola 30 years ago in an area that was mostly wheat and cattle country.
“You saw the odd field of canola back in the early Seventies and now anybody who seeds, grows canola,” he said.
Still farming, they work with son Renn and his wife, Heather, on deeded and rented land with plans to continue expanding as neighbours retire. Renn is among the youngest farmers in the area.
“That is a major concern of mine,” Cliff said.
“Who is going to be farming 50 years from now? Are they going to be farmers like we are, or are they going to be corporate farms.… I’m not sure it is good for the fabric of this province.”
The land is expensive because it has more value for development for Edmonton commuters than for food production.
The farm has been in the family for 75 years.
His parents were Germans living in Russia when they fled in the early part of the 20th century. His father settled first at Bruce, Alta., and then
came to this region in 1935 travelling by horse and wagon. Cliff was born on the farm in 1940 and was one of nine children.
He left the farm to get an education and met Shirley at a college in Edmonton where they were completing high school.
He eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta studying economics and political science and later an education degree from the University of Lethbridge.
In the early years of their marriage they farmed near Hilda, where Shirley’s family of German and South Dakota immigrants had homesteaded.
In 1967 his father offered to sell them the farm so they returned to the northwest and he started teaching at Onoway Junior/Senior High School. It’s where they raised their three children: Renn, Marcia and Kent.
Their lives changed in the mid- 1980s when they met Reform founder Preston Manning.
They travelled with him throughout the Yellowhead riding held by former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark and talked to crowds about Senate reform, referendums, fiscal reform and reducing the size of government.
“We usually made sure I was another driver when we went to these places,” Shirley said.
Added Cliff: “That was an exciting time from 1986-87 right through to when we got official opposition status in the House of Commons.… I liked the building of the party best.”
The Yellowhead constituency is large, extending from east of Onoway to the British Columbia border and as far as Swan Hills to the north and Jasper National Park to the south.
It has a small rural population with most voters living in small towns separated by hundreds of kilometres. It is a resource based riding of agriculture, timber, mining, pulp mills and recreation.
They say that Manning’s speeches from 25 years ago are still relevant but they are disappointed that more of the party’s proposals weren’t passed.
“We figured we were going to change the system all right,” Cliff said.
Added Shirley: “I was supportive. It was very interesting but sadly I don’t think we managed to do some of the things we wanted to do.”
Cliff was first elected in 1993 and was part of Reform’s western tide that sent 52 members to Ottawa, including a young Stephen Harper.
“I got to know Stephen Harper when he was 26 years old,” Cliff said. “He was our chief policy wonk. He was a strategy kind of guy.”
Jean Chretien was the Liberal prime minister and Paul Martin was his finance minister. Cliff came to admire them both.
The big breakthrough came in 1997 when Reform won 60 seats and became the official opposition. Cliff sat on the standing policy committees for agriculture and Canadian Heritage. He said it was an honour to serve.
“I never thought I would be an MP. It was a heck of a privilege to think that a first generation Canadian could actually get to the House of Commons if you have the fire in the belly to get there.”
After seven years in office, he decided to return to the farm. The neighbours and his sons were working the farm because being an MP was a full-time commitment.
He won Alberta’s unofficial Senate election in 2004, which was designed to pressure the federal government to select from these unofficial provincial winners rather than follow past practice and appoint their own senators.
He was also approached to join the Alberta populist party Wildrose Alliance but at this point in his life he prefers to observe.
“I don’t have the fire in my belly anymore. To get involved you have to really believe in what you are doing and have the energy.”
Instead, he and Shirley prefer time on the farm.
They are involved in a variety of community organizations, including her work with Meals on Wheels and the library board, and they also support their grandchildren’s activities.
There are always concerts to attend, hockey games to cheer for and another crop to sow.
