Cross's view prevailed, and Alberta's first Lieutenant-Governor, Liberal George Bulyea, invited Alexander Cameron Rutherford to form a government. Haultain went to Saskatchewan, created from a portion of the Northwest Territories at the same time as Alberta was, to lead the Provincial Rights Party. Though Cross was only 32, Rutherford named him Alberta's first Attorney-General. In consequence, he was required to contest the 1905 election. He did so in the district of Edmonton, against Conservative William Antrobus Griesbach. Griesbach fought his campaign on the Liberal federal government's imposition on Alberta of a requirement to fund separate schools, an imposition to which older provinces were not subject. Cross won the election with such a margin that Griesbach lost his deposit.