Arthur Lewis Sifton

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Rt. Hon. Arthur L. Sifton
Rt. Hon. Arthur L. Sifton

Arthur Lewis Sifton, PC , KC (October 26, 1858January 21, 1921) was a Canadian politician who was Premier of Alberta between 1910 and 1917.

Sifton was born in St Johns, Middlesex County, Canada West (later known as Ontario). He was first elected to the Northwest Territories legislature in 1902 for Banff. In 1903, he became territorial Chief Justice, and in 1907 became Alberta's chief justice. In 1910, he was recruited by the Alberta Liberal Party to succeed Alexander C. Rutherford as Premier. The party had been seriously divided over allegations of wrongdoing regarding railway construction. Sifton held the party together, and led it to victory in the 1913 and 1917 provincial elections. In 1916, his government gave women the right to vote, and passed temperance legislation that severely limited the sale of alcohol in the province.

The Conscription crisis of 1917 resulted in federal Prime Minister Robert Borden creating a Unionist government. Borden, a Conservative, invited prominent Liberals such as Sifton to join his Cabinet. Sifton accepted, resigning as Premier to become Borden's Minister of Customs and, later, Minister of Public Works and a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. For his service at the peace conference, he was appointed to the Imperial Privy Council in the 1920 New Year Honours, and was thus entitled to be styled "The Right Honourable".

Sifton died in Ottawa in 1921.

Preceded by
Alexander Cameron Rutherford
Premier of Alberta
1910-1917
Succeeded by
Charles Stewart
Preceded by
Archibald Campbell
MLA Vermilion, AB
1910-1917
Succeeded by
Arthur Ebbett
Preceded by
Robert Brett
MLA Banff, NWT
1899-1903
Succeeded by
Charles W. Fisher

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