In brief remarks at an evening honouring him last September, Link Byfield acknowledged he and most present has lost crucial political battles over the years.

He insisted the mere fact of losing a battle does not mean the battle was futile.

“Think,” he said, “how much worse things would be if we hadn’t fought the fights we fought.”

Link lost his life to cancer this week. The longtime publisher of Alberta Report, co-founder of the Wildrose Party, Alberta senator-in-waiting and policy advocate, will fight no more — not on earth, anyway. Given the Byfield clan’s passion for intellectually engaged debate, Heaven remains a realistic ground for an eternity of vigorous argument.

Read the rest of this article at the Calgary Herald website.