 Cameron was one of six candidates elected as aldermen to Edmonton 's first town council in 1892 ; he received the fifth most votes of the fourteen candidates . He was defeated in his 1893 re @-@ election bid , in which he finished seventh of nine candidates . He briefly returned to the council after being elected again in 1895 , but did not seek re @-@ election the following year and remained out of politics thereafter . During his first term on the council , he was involved in an altercation in which the dominion government had made a decision to Dominion Land Office from Edmonton to Strathcona , at the time a separate town , south of the North Saskatchewan River . When news of the decision and crews to execute it arrived in Edmonton , angry citizens descended on the office and tore to pieces the wagon that the officer was packing with records for transportation . Led by mayor Matthew McCauley , Cameron was part of a group of prominent citizens that headed the resistance , eventually leading to the dominion reversing its decision . 
