Alexander Cameron Rutherford

Alexander Rutherford was born in 1857, on a farm in Carleton County, Ontario. In 1881 he graduated from McGill University with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law degrees. In 1885 he was called to the Ontario Bar, practising at the law firm of Hodgkins, Kidd, and Rutherford. In 1895 he moved to the District of Alberta in western Canada where he continued to practise law.

In 1902 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories for Strathcona. With the creation of the province of Alberta on September 2, 1905, he was appointed the first premier. His Alberta Liberal Party won the new province's first election on November 9 of that year.

Rutherford's government promoted railway and road expansion and the creation of a public telephone system. He was forced to resign as premier on May 26, 1910, over allegations of conflict of interest in the government's proposals to insure bonds issued by a railway company. Although cleared of wrongdoing, he lost his seat in the legislature in the 1913 election. He later joined the Conservatives, campaigning for them in the 1921 federal election.

On December 19, 1888, he married Mattie Birkett, with whom he had three children: Cecil Alexander, Hazel Elizabeth and Marjorie Cameron.

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