Arthur Lewis Sifton

Infobox_President
honorific-prefix=The Right Honourable

name=Arthur Lewis Sifton
honorific-suffix=
KC


caption = The Rt Hon. Arthur Lewis Sifton
order = 2nd Premier of Alberta
term_start = 1910
term_end = 1917
predecessor = Alexander Cameron Rutherford
successor = Charles Stewart
birth_date = October 26, 1858
birth_place = Middlesex County, Canada West
death_date = death date and age |1921|01|21|1858|10|26
death_place = Ottawa, Ontario
party = Alberta Liberal Party (1910-1917)
otherparty = Liberal-Conservative (1902-1903)
Unionist Party (1917-1921)
spouse = Mary H. Deering|

Arthur Lewis Sifton, PC, KC (born: October 26, 1858 St Johns (Arva), London township, Middlesex County, Canada West – died: January 21, 1921) was a Canadian politician who was Premier of Alberta between 1910 and 1917.

Early life

Sifton was born in St Johns (Arva), London township, Middlesex County, Canada West (now Ontario). His father John Wright Sifton was a contractor, and later became a politician in Manitoba.

Politics

Sifton 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.

Federal politics

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 list, [LondonGazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |startpage=2 |supp=yes] and was thus entitled to be styled "The Right Honourable".

Sifton died in Ottawa in 1921.

His brother, Sir Clifford Sifton, was also a prominent politician.

Electoral record

As MLA

As MP

Footnotes

References

*

External links

* [http://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/premiers/sifton.htm Alberta legislative assembly biography]
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=12965&s=M Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament]