Calgarians' bruised feelings were not salved when the government located the University of Alberta, a project dear to the Premier's heart, in his hometown of Strathcona, just across the North Saskatchewan River from Edmonton.

Early in 1910, William Henry Cushing's resignation as Minister of Public Works precipitated the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal, which turned many of Rutherford's Liberals against his government.

[7] Called to the Ontario bar in 1885, he became a junior partner in the firm of Hodkins, Kidd and Rutherford, with responsibility for its Kemptville office for ten years.

[9] Within ten days of their arrival, Rutherford had opened a law office, purchased four lots of land, and contracted local builder Hugh McCurdy to build him a house.

[16] He employed single women as secretaries in an era that clerical workers were predominantly male, and he defended a First Nations person accused of murder when most lawyers refused such cases.

[17] Besides his law practice, Rutherford was a successful real estate investor, and he also owned an interest in gold mining equipment on the North Saskatchewan River.

[14] Rutherford campaigned on a platform of improved roads, resource development, simplification of territorial ordinances, and (in what would become a theme of his political career) increased educational funding.

[22] Rutherford was supported by most of Strathcona's most prominent residents, including his law partner Jamieson and his future rival John R. Boyle, and won an easy victory.

[22] His legislative efforts included successful attempts to extend the boundaries of the Town of Strathcona and to empower it to borrow for construction of public works.

[26] In February 1905, the federal government of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier introduced legislation to create two new provinces (Alberta and Saskatchewan) out of part of the Northwest Territories.

[32] Bennett attacked the terms under which Alberta had been made a province, especially the clauses that left control of its lands and natural resources in the hands of the federal government and required the continued provincial funding of separate schools.

[37] He pointed out that Canada's older provinces had control of their own natural resources and that education was a provincial responsibility under the British North America Act.

[36][37] The Liberals responded to such criticisms by highlighting the financial compensation the province received from the federal government in exchange for control of its natural resources, which amounted to $375,000 per year.

[38] Besides the Conservatives' ties to the CPR, Rutherford's Liberals enjoyed the incumbent's advantage of controlling the levers of patronage, and the election's result was never really in doubt.

[44] He was concerned that delay might result in the creation of denominational colleges, striking a blow to his dream of a high-quality nonsectarian system of postsecondary education.

In 1906, it passed a series of acts dealing with the organization and administration of the new provincial government and incorporated the cities of Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Wetaskiwin.

[47] Rutherford put great emphasis on the creation of English-language schools in the large portions of the province that were occupied primarily by Central and Eastern European immigrants.

[61] Such monopolies and the private firms' refusal to extend their services into sparsely-populated and unprofitable rural areas aroused demand for provincial entry into the market, which was effected in 1907.

[64] Rutherford's stated rationale was that the cost of such a large capital project should not.be borne by a single generation and that incurring debt to finance a corresponding asset was, in contrast to operating deficits, acceptable.

[67] Every town wanted to be a railway centre, and the government had great confidence in the ability of the free market to provide low freight rates to the province's farmers if sufficient charters were issued to competing companies.

[70] Boyle, Cushing, and Bennett alleged favouritism or ineptitude by Rutherford and his government, and they pointed to the sale of government-guaranteed bonds in support of the company as further evidence.

Oliver was implacably opposed to Cross and viewed him as a rival for dominance of the Liberal Party in Alberta,[83] and his Edmonton Bulletin had taken the side of the dissidents during the railway scandal.

[82] He commanded the loyalty of many Liberals who had supported his government through the Alberta and Great Waterways issue,[86] but the faction began increasingly to see Cross as its real leader.

[91] Rutherford took a strong line against the Sifton government and was nominated as Conservative candidate for the 1917 provincial election but stood down after being named as Alberta director of the National Service (conscription).

[92] Rutherford continued to call himself a Liberal but criticized the incumbent administration for the growth of the provincial debt and for letting the party fall into disarray.

[106] Aberhart was pleased and happily accepted University President William Alexander Robb Kerr's invitation to deliver the commencement address at convocation.

[107] However, a week prior to convocation the full senate, responsible for all university academic affairs, met, and voted against awarding Aberhart a degree.

[96] During World War I, he was Alberta director of the National Service Commission, which oversaw conscription from 1916 until 1918, and in 1916, he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 194th Highland Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

[117] He made several trips to the United Kingdom and was invited to attend the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, but he had to return to Canada before the event.

In 1980, the government of Alberta created the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship, which awards more than $20 million annually to high school students selected on the basis of a minimum of a 75% average.