The Archivist

Arthur Lewis Sifton (1859-1921), Premier of Alberta, at the Coronation of George V, 1911 (PA-127252)

Sir Clifford died the next year, John Wright in 1932 and Henry Arthur in 1934. The family was now abruptly reduced to the fourth and fifth sons, Clifford (1893-1976) and Victor (1897-1961).

Both were newspapermen. In 1927 and 1928, they had purchased two small dailies, the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix and the Regina Leader-Post, and on the death of their father they inherited the Winnipeg Free Press, complete with its great editor John Dafoe. Victor moved to Winnipeg in 1935 to become manager of the Free Press, and on Dafoe's death in 1944 he became the paper's publisher. Until 1953, the two brothers coordinated their editorial policies through a long, detailed and wide-ranging correspondence.

Politically, the two were originally middle-of-the-road Liberals with a strong internationalist outlook. Clifford held executive positions with the League of Nations Society before the Second World War and was Chairman of the Canadian Aid to Russia Fund during the war. In the post-war period, they continued to support the Liberals, perhaps more so because of a bitter personal feud with George Drew. However, they rejected Keynesian economics, and for this and other reasons found themselves increasingly categorized as right-wingers.

The partnership dissolved in 1953, at which point Victor became sole owner of the Free Press and Clifford of the other two dailies. Victor went on to form a different partnership, this time with Max Bell of Calgary. Called FP Publications, the new partnership included the Ottawa Journal, the Free Press, Bell's Calgary Albertan and two Victorian dailies. FP Publications outlived Victor, who died in 1961, and was absorbed by the Thomson interests in 1980.

Clifford's enthusiasms ran on somewhat different lines. The Siftons had been acquiring radio stations since the late-1920s. As President of Armadale Corporation, Clifford continued this policy, and by the 1950s his radio and television interests far outweighed his newspaper holdings. A long-time member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, he remained a respected, if occasionally controversial, figure in the broadcasting field until his death in 1976.

Clifford's principal heir was his son Michael C. Sifton of Buttonville, Ontario. The legacy was considerable; it included two communications companies, a record company, the two Saskatchewan newspapers and a variety of other properties.

The National Archives of Canada holds the papers of Arthur Lewis Sifton (MG 2711 D 15), Sir Clifford Sifton (MG 2711 D 15), and Clifford and Winfield Burrows Sifton (MG 30 A 105).

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