as its rising star. Though Rutherford never actually lost a confidence motion, Bulyea pressured him to resign in favour of Arthur Sifton, the province's chief justice. Several of Cross's supporters attempted to extract a promise to keep Cross as Attorney-General in exchange for their support of Sifton's government, but Sifton was unwilling to agree. Rutherford eventually and reluctantly complied with Bulyea's wishes, and the rest of his government, including Cross, followed suit. Subsequent rumours suggested that Cross and his followers had agreed to resign only because of a belief that Sifton would be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada after approximately a year as Premier, with Cross then being asked to form a government. 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. Backbenches and return to cabinet 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). Despite this, Cross declared his support for Sifton's government while restating his admiration for Rutherford's. In response to the A&GW's default of its obligations to the government, Sifton introduced a bill confiscating the money the A&GW had raised through the sale of government-guaranteed bonds. Cross, still a supporter of building the A&GW and concerned that the bill did not include a commitment to use the money to do so, opposed it. The bill passed, but was disallowed by the courts. Sifton, left with little choice but to use the money for the purpose for which it had been raised, announced a new policy of railway construction. At the same time, he invited Cross to resume his post as Attorney-General. 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admitted to cabinet, as Minister of Education; Cushing and Rutherford, the other major players in the A&GW affair, had withdrawn from the limelight, and neither would return to the legislature after the 1913 election. Cross accepted Sifton's offer, telling the public that Sifton's new railway policy "made it proper for me to support and join his government". In keeping with custom at the time, once appointed to cabinet Cross resigned his seat in the legislature and contested it in a by-election. His by-election was held at the same time as four others, and while Liberal papers were unhesitant about endorsing the Liberal