 In speaking of A & GW President William Clarke ( an American ) , Bennett went on to say " Clarke I despise but Clarke I am bound to respect , because this province gave him a right by charter and if I know the United States I do not think it will allow this province to take his property without due process of the law . " The Conservatives , however , had not been expected to support the legislation ; the real question was whether Sifton could command enough support among Liberals to pass it . After all , during the Alberta and Great Waterways crisis only nine months earlier , a legislature of very similar makeup had endorsed the Rutherford government 's handling of railway policy by a vote of twenty @-@ three votes to fifteen ; would Sifton 's bill , effectively a repudiation of the Rutherford policy , convince enough Liberals to change sides ? The answer came in December , when the bill passed third reading by a vote of twenty @-@ five votes to fourteen . Nine Liberals had reversed themselves and saved Sifton 's government , though both Cross and Rutherford were among those to vote against it . 
