Charles Wilson Cross (November 30, 1872 – June 2, 1928) was a Canadian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the House of Commons of Canada.

He became active with the Liberal Party of Canada, and when Alberta was created in 1905 he was chosen by Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford to be its first Attorney-General.

He moved west to Edmonton in 1897,[1] where he opened a law practice with William Short; it exists today as Duncan Craig LLP.

By some assessments, he was the second most influential Liberal in the city after Frank Oliver, the owner of the Edmonton Bulletin and local Member of Parliament.

[4] Cross's view prevailed, and Alberta's first Lieutenant-Governor, Liberal George Bulyea, invited Alexander Cameron Rutherford to form a government.

Haultain went to Saskatchewan, created from a portion of the Northwest Territories at the same time as Alberta was, to lead the Provincial Rights Party.

Cross countered that Edmonton's history as capital of the Canadian fur trade and its geographic location close to the centre of the province gave it the stronger claim.

[10] Though the bill addressed some of the labour movement's concerns,[1] there remained many criticisms: it failed to fine employers responsible for workplace hazards, did not apply to injuries sustained while building or repairing buildings of less than 40 feet (12 m) in height, did not protect casual labourers, and limited compensation to a maximum of Can$1,500.

In response to these concerns, Cross lowered the minimum building height to 30 feet (9.1 m) and raised the maximum compensation to $1,800.

The A&GW was one of several new railways to take advantage of the government's offer, made under considerable public pressure, of loan guarantees.

[17] Some newspapers characterized the struggle as the visible element of a battle for influence between Oliver, long Alberta's most prominent Liberal, and Cross, seen as its rising star.

[18] Though Rutherford never actually lost a confidence motion, Bulyea pressured him to resign in favour of Arthur Sifton, the province's chief justice.

Rutherford eventually and reluctantly complied with Bulyea's wishes, and the rest of his government, including Cross, followed suit.

[20] A subsequent commission declined to find Cross guilty of wrongdoing in relation to the A&GW incident, but criticized him and Rutherford for granting over-generous terms to the railway.

[21] In keeping with Sifton's policy of excluding all prominent players in the A&GW affair from cabinet, Cross was not re-appointed (Cushing, Rutherford, and Boyle were also left out).

Boyle was also admitted to cabinet, as Minister of Education; Cushing and Rutherford, the other major players in the A&GW affair, had withdrawn from the limelight, and neither would return to the legislature after the 1913 election.

The Calgary Albertan, in an editorial advocating the return of Liberal candidates in all five by-elections, criticized Cross as "disloyal to [Sifton] in the beginning, and doubtless will be to the end."

He won both (Ewing was the second victor from the two-member Edmonton district), making him the only person in Alberta history to represent two constituencies at the same time (though not the only one to try: Sifton also did so in 1913, and Boyle would in 1921).

The Liberal leader, Wilfrid Laurier, opposed conscription, but many of the party's English-speaking members supported it and defected to a Borden-led Union government.

This dispute had repercussions in the Alberta party: Sifton supported conscription, and shortly after winning the 1917 election (in which Cross was re-elected in Edson but did not run in Edmonton) resigned as Premier to move to federal politics and a ministry in Borden's government.

[37] In the meantime, a rift was opening between Cross and Stewart (whom the Conservatives accused, somewhat ironically, of being unduly influenced by his Attorney-General).

[40] Cross ran as a Liberal in the 1925 federal election in the riding of Athabaska, and defeated Donald Ferdinand Kellner, the Progressive incumbent from Edmonton East.