 Once the legislature convened in 1922 , the inexperience of the Premier and his caucus was further laid bare . Greenfield , devastated by the sudden death of his wife , turned in a poor performance . Faced with an aggressive attack by new Liberal leader John R. Boyle , Greenfield relied heavily on Attorney General John Brownlee , who sat next to him in the Legislature , to provide the defense . The session got off to an inauspicious start : Greenfield nominated the government 's preferred candidate for speaker , Oran McPherson , only to have one of his backbenchers , Alex Moore , nominate Independent Conservative John Smith Stewart ; Stewart spared the government embarrassment by declining the nomination . 
