Clifford Sifton (1861-1929) was a politician who did more than anyone else to turn the Canadian West into a premiere agricultural area.

Clifford Sifton's father, John Wright Sifton, was a farmer, oil man, and banker and a devout Methodist. Of Irish origin, he moved his family to England and then to Canada, where Clifford was born in a farmhouse near Arva, Canada West (Ontario), on March 10, 1861. Clifford's older brother, Arthur Lewis Sifton (born October 26, 1858), was also destined to play an important role in the early political life of western Canada.

In 1874 John moved the Sifton family again, this time to Selkirk, Manitoba. Clifford and his brother attended two Methodist institutions, Wesley College in Winnipeg and Victoria College in Cobourg, Ontario. Clifford graduated in 1880 as the gold medalist. The two brothers articled (were apprentices) in Winnipeg and set up law practice in the town of Brandon, Manitoba. Clifford's father...