 In 1910 , the government of Alberta Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford was embroiled in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal . The Liberal Lieutenant @-@ Governor of Alberta , George Bulyea , determined that for the sake of the Liberal Party of Alberta , Rutherford had to be pushed aside in favour of a new Premier . When other prominent Liberals declined it , the position was offered to Sifton . As Premier , he smoothed over the divisions in the party that had caused and been exacerbated by the railway scandal . He made attempts to break with the Rutherford railway policy ; when these were rebuffed by the courts , he adopted a course similar to Rutherford 's . He unsuccessfully pursued the transfer of rights over Alberta 's natural resources from the federal government , which had retained them by the terms of Alberta 's <unk> . 
