Arthur Sifton

The Right Honourable Arthur Sifton PC PC (Can) KC
2nd Premier of Alberta
In office May 26, 1910 – October 30, 1917
Monarch	George V
Lieutenant Governor	George H. V. Bulyea Robert Brett
Preceded by	Alexander Cameron Rutherford
Succeeded by	Charles Stewart
Treasurer of Alberta
In office March 26, 1913 – November 28, 1913
Preceded by	Malcolm McKenzie
Succeeded by	Charles R. Mitchell
In office June 1, 1910 – May 4, 1912
Preceded by	Alexander Cameron Rutherford
Succeeded by	Malcolm McKenzie
Alberta Minister of Railways and Telephones
In office December 20, 1912 – October 30, 1917
Preceded by	Alexander Cameron Rutherford1
Succeeded by	Charles Stewart
Alberta Minister of Public Works
In office June 1, 1910 – May 4, 1912
Preceded by	William Henry Cushing
Succeeded by	Charles R. Mitchell
Secretary of State for Canada
In office December 31, 1919 – January 21, 1921
Prime Minister	Robert Borden Arthur Meighen
Preceded by	Martin Burrell
Succeeded by	Henry Lumley Drayton
Canadian Minister of Public Works
In office September 3, 1919 – December 30, 1919
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	John Dowsley Reid
Succeeded by	John Dowsley Reid
Canadian Minister of Customs and Inland Revenue
In office May 14, 1918 – September 1, 1919
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	Albert Sévigny (as Minister of Inland Revenue) Continuing (as Minister of Customs)
Succeeded by	John Dowsley Reid
Canadian Minister of Customs
In office October 12, 1917 – May 14, 1918
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	John Dowsley Reid
Succeeded by	Continuing
Northwest Territories Treasurer
In office March 1, 1901 – January 14, 1903
Preceded by	James Hamilton Ross
Succeeded by	Frederick Haultain
Northwest Territories Minister of Public Works
In office March 1, 1901 – January 14, 1903
Preceded by	James Hamilton Ross
Succeeded by	George Bulyea
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Medicine Hat
In office December 17, 1917 – January 21, 1921
Preceded by	William Ashbury Buchanan
Succeeded by	Robert Gardiner
Member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly for Vermilion
In office June 29, 1910 – October 12, 1917
Preceded by	Archibald Campbell
Succeeded by	Arthur Ebbett
Member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly for Banff
In office June 27, 1899 – January 1903
Preceded by	Robert Brett
Succeeded by	Charles Wellington Fisher
Member of the Brandon City Council
In office 1882–1884
Personal details
Born	Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton (1858-10-26)October 26, 1858 Middlesex County, Canada West
Died	January 21, 1921(1921-01-21) (aged 62) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Alberta Liberal (1910–1917)
Other political affiliations	Liberal-Conservative (1902–1903) Unionist Party (1917–1921)
Spouse	Mary H. Deering
Children	2
Signature
1 Rutherford served as Minister of Railways until June 1, 1910, after which the position was vacant until Sifton took it. Minister of Telephones was a new position.

Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton, PC, PC (Can), KC (October 26, 1858 – January 21, 1921) was a Canadian lawyer, judge and politician who served as the second premier of Alberta from 1910 until 1917. He became a minister in the federal cabinet of Canada thereafter. Born in Canada West (now Ontario), he grew up there and in Winnipeg, where he became a lawyer. He subsequently practised law with his brother Clifford Sifton in Brandon, where he was also active in municipal politics. He moved west to Prince Albert in 1885 and to Calgary in 1889. There, he was elected to the 4th and 5th North-West Legislative Assemblies; he served as a minister in the government of premier Frederick Haultain. In 1903, the federal government, at the instigation of his brother (who was then one of its ministers), made Sifton the Chief Justice of the Northwest Territories. After Alberta was created out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in 1905, Sifton became the first Chief Justice of Alberta in 1907 and served until 1910.

In 1910, the Liberal government of Alberta premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford was embroiled in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal. The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, George Bulyea, was a Liberal and determined that for the sake of the Alberta Liberal Party, Rutherford had to be pushed aside in favour of a new premier. When other prominent Liberals declined it, the position was offered to Sifton, who accepted it. As premier, Sifton 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 provincehood.

While Sifton was premier, the United Farmers of Alberta rose as a political force. Sifton tried to accommodate many of their demands: his government constructed agricultural colleges, incorporated a farmer-run grain elevator cooperative, and implemented a municipal system of hail insurance. Outside of agriculture, the UFA was instrumental in the Sifton government's implementation of some direct democracy measures (which resulted in prohibition) and the extension of the vote to women.

During the conscription crisis of 1917, Sifton supported the Conservative prime minister, Sir Robert Borden, in his attempt to impose conscription to help win the First World War. He backed the creation of a federal Union government composed of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals. In 1917, he left provincial politics and became a cabinet minister in the Union government. Over the next three and a half years, he served briefly in four different ministries and was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. He died in Ottawa in January 1921 after a brief illness.