RUTHERFORD, Alexander Cameron Premier Of Alta ^31,34

   General Notes:

The First Premier of Alberta Teacher then went to McGill and Earned Bachlor Civil Law in 1881

The Rutherford clan motto is "Nec sorte nec fato" which means "Neither by chance nor fate".

"Alexander Cameron Rutherford 1857 - 1941 "The first premier of Alberta. Rutherford was born in Osgoode Township of Scottish parents and educated at McGill University. In 1895, after practicing law in Ottawa and Kemptville, he moved to Strathcona, near Edmonton. Elected to the territorial assembly seven years later. Rutherford achieved prominence as deputy speaker of the legislature. When the Province of Alberta was created in 1905, he became premier, provincial treasurer and minister of education in the first government. Rutherford skillfully established the province's administrative, judicial and educational frameworks but prolonged debate regarding a controversial railway policy precipitated his resignation as premier in 1910. Although retired from politics after 1913 he retained an active interest in education matters serving as chancellor of the University of Alberta from 1927 until his death."


Alberta's Premiers: A.C. Rutherford Premier of Alberta 1905-1910 Many thanks to AFHS member and volunteer, Heather Jaremko, who provided the typescript of this page and obtained the permission of the Calgary Herald to reprint this work in the AFHS website. This work is based on reports in the Calgary Herald between 1929 and 1939. We will be pleased to hear from anyone who descends from A.C. Rutherford and can fill us in on the family history of this Alberta leader. Please contact the AFHS to start this dialogue afhs@afhs.ab.ca A.C. Rutherford was appointed as interim premier by Ottawa in 1905. He was an Edmonton-area Liberal. Rutherford filled his temporary cabinet with Liberals. All this was ominous enough for southern Alberta Conservatives. Frank Oliver announced Alberta's consistuency boundries, made in Ottawa. Most of the constituencies were narrow strips running east-west across the province, but no less than six were snuggled up to Edmonton. Alberta's first election was held November 5, 1905. Like most Alberta elections since, it was a landslide. This time, however, it was a landslide for Liberals, which has since become unusual. The Liberals won 23 of 25 seats. R.B. Bennett, a Calgary Conservative who became prime minister 25 years later, lost a close contest. The new Legislature first sat in the Spring of 1906. When the question of a permanent capital came up, W.H. Cushing, a Calgary Liberal, spoke for his home city. Red Deer and Banff were also proposed. When the vote came, the southern MLAs voted for Calgary, but the carefully-arranged northern constituenices supported Edmonton, and that was that. The proposed Alberta and Great Waterways Railway caused the province's first big political scandal. Allegedly some cabinet ministers received payments from the House of Morgan, the New York financial firm that made a profit selling the railway's bonds. The ensuing political hurly-burly temporarily divided the Alberta Liberals. There were feuds and resignations in the cabinet; in the Legislature, R.B. Bennett, a fiery orator of a now-vanished school, Premier Rutherford resigned (though a judicial investigation later cleared him of any wrong-doing) and A.L. Sifton took over. Even after the scandal, the Alberta railway boom continued, without much regard for economic reality. (However, the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway did reach its goal near Fort McMurray in 1924).

As well as serving as Premier, or President of Executive Council, during Alberta's First Legislature, Alexander C. Rutherford was also Provincial Treasurer and Minister of Education. His Liberal Government established the law necessary to make the transition from territorial to provincial status, started a public telephone system, expanded roads and railways within the Province, constructed a number of public buildings, and established a teacher-training facility and the University of Alberta. As well, he attended the Provincial Premiers' Conference at Ottawa in 1906, was a delegate to the Imperial Education Conference in London in 1907, and was a member of the federal government's Commission of Conservation in 1909.

   Events:

1. Religion. Baptist

   Marriage Information:

Alexander married Martha BIRKETT.