He moved to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1896 and worked as a printer and later foreman there, in Neepawa and in Fort William, Ontario.
[citation needed] He served as lieutenant and captain in the 12th Manitoba Dragoons from 1904 to 1908, and later as Major of the 18th Mounted Rifles from 1908 until 1913, when he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.
[3] Manitoba was governed by Rodmond Roblin's Conservative Party in this period, and McPherson served as an opposition member for the next four years.
[citation needed] McPherson travelled with the first Canadian contingent to England at the start of the war, but was called home again to take second command of the 32nd Battalion.
[citation needed] He returned to Manitoba after the war to take his seat in the legislature, and served as a backbench supporter of Tobias Norris's government.
[3] During this period of Canadian history, newly appointed ministers were required to resign their seats and seek the renewed consent of their electorate to assume office.
[3] In the 1922 provincial election, McPherson left the Lakeside constituency to challenge Conservative party leader Fawcett Taylor in Portage la Prairie.
The Liberals were defeated provincially by the United Farmers of Manitoba, and McPherson resigned from cabinet with the rest of the Norris ministry on August 8, 1922.