Attorney-General
Greenfield appointed Brownlee his attorney-general, and soon after Brownlee was acclaimed in a by-election in Ponoka. His training in business and law, unique in the UFA caucus, gave him a central role in most of the government's initiatives; he also led the defense against attacks from the Liberal opposition, and eventually became responsible for setting the agenda for cabinet meetings.
Brownlee quickly entrenched himself in the conservative wing of the UFA caucus. He resisted measures that would take decision-making out of government departments and transfer them to the caucus or UFA locals, and opposed the efforts of some UFA backbenchers to transform the application of the Westminster system in Alberta. When the UFA's more radical elements called for the creation of a government-owned bank, Brownlee dismissed the idea as neither financially nor constitutionally feasible. His concern for the government's finances extended to its budget deficit; when he found Greenfield's spending cuts wanting, he cut staff from his own department to set an example. In a further attempt to better the government's financial position, he unsuccessfully advocated the sale of the its four money-losing railways to Canadian National (CPR) or Canadian Pacific (CPR).
A longstanding objective of the Alberta government had been winning control of Alberta's lands and natural resources from the federal government. The older provinces already had this control, but when Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba were admitted to Confederation, the federal government retained resource rights and paid the provincial governments an annual grant as compensation. As attorney-general, Brownlee was Alberta's chief negotiator in these efforts, and met frequently with representatives of Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. While negotiations occasionally seemed promising, King was unwilling to fully commit to the transfer, possibly because Charles Stewart, now King's Alberta lieutenant, and John R. Boyle, leader of the provincial Liberals, were sworn enemies of the UFA.
As a farmers' government, the UFA was committed to helping farmers in the province's drought-stricken south. Brownlee authored the Drought Relief Act, which created a Drought Relief Commissioner to provide farmers with financial counselling and help them reach settlements with banks when they were unable to pay their debts. He also played a leading role in the creation of the Alberta Wheat Pool.
Brownlee's department was responsible for administration of prohibition. Though the policy initially enjoyed the support of most Albertans, disregard for it was sufficiently widespread that effective enforcement proved impossible. The 1922 murder of Alberta Provincial Police constable Steve Lawson by bootleggers Emil Picariello and Florence Lassandro helped turn public opinion against it, and it was repealed the next year. The Lord's Day Act, which prohibited most commerce on Sundays, was also Brownlee's responsibility, though he had little enthusiasm for it and prosecuted only the most flagrant violations.
Many UFA MLAs came to see the government's reliance on Brownlee as embarrassing, and Greenfield's abilities as too limited to continue to lead. In 1924, they pressured Greenfield to resign so Brownlee could replace him; Brownlee scuppered the plot by warning that Greenfield's resignation would be accompanied by his own. A second attempt in 1925 was successful when Wood intervened to convince Brownlee to accept the premiership and Greenfield assured him that he would be pleased to be rid of it. Brownlee became Premier of Alberta November 23, 1925.
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