Alexander Duncan McRae was born and raised on a farm in Ekfrid Township, Middlesex County, Ontario.

[citation needed] In search of opportunities, at age 18 he went to work for his cousins, the brothers Alexander and Andrew Davidson of Duluth, Minnesota.

[citation needed] Andrew had become mayor and they were involved in the business of buying, marketing and financing railway land to homesteaders.

[citation needed] He married Blaunche Latimer Howe, of Pennsylvania who was the daughter of wealthy a forest industry father.

The railway companies rejected much of the land between Regina and Saskatoon as unfit for settlement and court proceedings began.

In 1902 they bought land surrendered by the Cree and Assiniboine people under Treaty 4, which the government had assigned to the Qu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan Railway.

They were also appointed land agents for the Great Northern Railway owned by Donald Mann and William Mackenzie in 1902.

[1] In the summer of 1902, Davidson and McRae organized two promotional train tours from Minneapolis through to Prince Albert.

A raging controversy arose in the House of Commons but the opposition was unable to make much of it even though McRae and his colleagues made a staggering profit in the transactions because the land had stood empty for years (the railway companies didn't want it), the government had insisted on terms that required the settlement of these vacant lands and overall the effort succeeded in rapidly filling vast areas of vacant land with settlers at a time when there was concern about American expansion into the territory.

Working with his partner, Davidson, Senator Peter Jansen of Nebraska, the Swift Brothers (meat packing), William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, he took over a sawmill and a company town 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream from New Westminster at a place called Millside at Fraser Mills (now part of Coquitlam).

In the years after McRae's involvement, it eventually, in 1954, was acquired by Crown Zellerbach, and, with further acquisitions became Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited in 1987.

[3]: 357 By 1914, when World War I began, McRae was also president of Anacortes Lumber and Box Company, vice-president of Columbia River Lumber Company Ltd of Golden BC which became a subsidiary of Canadian Western, vice-president of Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd. of Victoria BC and president of Wallace Fisheries.

[4] In 1912, as a recruit of Major General Sir Sam Hughes, McRae volunteered with the 6th Regiment "The Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles" as an honorary lieutenant colonel.

Rumours led nevertheless to charges about the conduct of these acquisitions resulting in a royal commission under Quebec Chief Justice Sir Charles Peers Davidson.

[citation needed] He carried on as director of supplies and services and, when Hughes fell into disfavour in 1916, McRae continued to advance.

In World War II his involvement was limited to helping raise financial support for the Canadian Legion and the YMCA.

After the death of his wife Blaunche in 1942, McRae donated Hycroft to the government of Canada to be used as a hospital for wounded veterans.

The Club promotes education and opportunities for women and members enjoy sharing ideas, interests, and fun at its Clubhouse, Hycroft.

The party sought freight rate equalization, cooperation with the federal government in the development of a northern railway, the elimination of Oriental labour, abolition of patronage, hiring of veterans and the elimination of income tax which had been introduced as a temporary measure during the war.

Many of his allegations were related to the funding of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway plan to reach Prince George in the Northern interior of the province which was not achieved until many years later.

[citation needed] McRae ran federally for the Conservatives winning a seat in Parliament the 1926 election representing the Vancouver North district.

[citation needed] In the early 1930s McRae purchased 260 acres (1.1 km2) of ocean front bluff land in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island.

The home, which Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth and her husband stayed at for a private visit in 1951 during their honeymoon during subsequent ownership, burned to the ground in 1969.