The farm union movement lost one of its important past leaders in mid-August with the passing in Ottawa of Alfred P. Gleave. He was 88 and is survived by his wife Mary and son Sheldon and his family.

Alf had a long association in the farm movement dating back to the 1940s when he was active in the United Farmers of Canada (Saskatchewan Section) in the Biggar area. He was also a founding member of the Saskatchewan Farmers Union when the UFC was reorganized in November, 1949. He served five annual terms as director on the SFU board. In addition to his annual elections as SFU president from 1957-62, he also served as a member of the Interprovincial Farm Union Council (renamed the National Farmers Union Council) and served as its chairman from 1961-64.

In 1958 he was appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Canadian Wheat Board and in 1959 and 1962 he went to Geneva, Switzerland as an advisor to the C.W.B. on the negotiations for an International Wheat Agreement. In 1963, he was appointed to the Board of the Saskatchewan Power Corporation and in 1964 to the advisory committee of the Farm Credit Corporation and to the Economic Council of Canada.

The issues of the day during his presidency in which Alf was deeply involved included the matter of low grain prices and the structuring of producer-controlled marketing boards for hogs and eggs. It is a matter of interest that in a Union Farmer report of March, 1960, he wrote of the ongoing requests for grain deficiency payments noting that: "Farmers caught between rising production costs and grain prices substantially lower than they were 10 years ago are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a financial balance on the right side of the ledger." The more things change: the more they stay the same!

Following his service in the farm union, Alf was elected in 1968 as a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament in the constituency of Saskatoon-Biggar and served in that capacity until 1974. He acted as the NDP agriculture critic in the House of Commons.

In 1991, Alf published a book, United We Stand, outlining the struggles of farmers from 1901 - 1975.

Back to Union Farmer Index

Back to NFU Home Page