of a non-partisan government or one formed by a coalition of Liberals and Conservatives. Cross was not among them. 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. Though Cross was only 32, Rutherford named him to his cabinet as Alberta's first Attorney-General. In consequence, he was required to contest the 1905 election. He did so in the district of Edmonton, against Conservative William Antrobus Griesbach. Griesbach fought his campaign on the Liberal federal government's imposition on Alberta of a requirement to fund separate schools, an imposition to which older provinces were not subject. Cross won the election with such a margin that Griesbach lost his deposit. One of the first questions considered by the new Legislative Assembly of Alberta was the choice of provincial capital. The terms of autonomy had made Edmonton the provisional capital, but there was a movement to make Calgary the permanent choice. This movement was led in the legislature by Minister of Public Works William Henry Cushing, Cross's cabinet colleague, who argued that it would be cheaper to build a legislature building in Calgary than in Edmonton and that Calgary was the economic centre of the province and therefore ought to be capital. 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. Edmonton was eventually selected by a vote of 16 to 8. It would not be the last issue on which Cross and Cushing disagreed. As Attorney-General, Cross was responsible for overseeing prosecutions. He was especially aggressive in his enforcement of the Sabbath Observance Act, which prohibited most business activities on Sundays. He also introduced new workers' compensation legislation, the highlight of which was making compensation automatic, rather than the result of a lawsuit by the injured worker. Though the bill addressed some of the labour movement's concerns, 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 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