He became a leading figure in the creation of the Coalition when he was asked to become premier of the Province of Canada by then Governor-General Sir Edmund Walker Head.

In 1858, Alexander Tilloch Galt made a motion in the Legislature at Kingston recommending that the Province of Canada ask the British Government to create a federal union of British North America (Canada East and West, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) and Rupert's Land (owned by the Hudson's Bay Company).

He was the main architect of the Cayley-Galt Tariff, which protected colonial businesses and caused consternation in both Britain and the United States.

Following a strong disagreement with Macdonald and Cartier concerning the fate of the Commercial Bank of Canada, Galt resigned from Government.

In 1877, The British appointed him as their representative in the Halifax Fisheries Commission concerning American fishing rights in Canadian waters.

As this was the only important office of the Canadian Government overseas at the time, he also travelled to France and Spain to negotiate trade deals with those nations.

The British Government knew of these trips and was displeased that Canada had developed a foreign policy separate from the Empire.

Alexander was undoubtedly aware of the work done by Dr. George Dawson to map the coal deposits in south Alberta on behalf of the Geological Survey of Canada.

Alexander Galt sent Nicholas Bryant and William Stafford to decide the best location for a mine in southern Alberta.

Alexander created the North Western Coal and Navigation Company to grow his industry with the participation of English investors, the largest shareholder being William Lethbridge.

Alexander and Elliot Galt established the Alberta Railway and Coal Company to build two narrow-gauge rail lines, hoping that the infrastructure would attract other businesses and settlers to the region.

[6][7] The Federal Government granted large tracts of land in southern Alberta to the Galt's companies in return for building those two rail lines.

Charles Ora Card was sent to establish a colony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Canada in 1886.

Galt, Charles A. Magrath, the Company Land Commissioner, and the Lethbridge News lobbied the Government for almost ten years for additional funding for irrigation projects.

[9] In 1896, the Dominion Government and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) agreed to fund their irrigation plan by supplying cash, constructing a rail line to the Crowsnest Pass and writing off the debt of surveying fees on previous land grants.

[10] The leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah entered into a contract with Galt and Magrath in 1898 to construct an irrigation system in southern Alberta.

The agreement required the Church to provide skilled labourers to build fifty miles of irrigation canals from Kimball to Stirling.

Today, the company is the largest provider of surety bonds in all of Canada in public works and government services.