Appraisal of Government Ownership and Operation of Railways in Canada

ment Railways which had been built by the Government, viz., the Intercolonial, which connected the Maritime Provinces with the interior as a part of the Confederation agreement, and the National Transcontinental Railway, which had been built between Winnipeg and Moncton to constitute the eastern extension of the Grand Trunk Pacific as a transcontinental route. The chief reasons for the failure of these private roads were: first, much of the mileage had been built through territory which could not furnish traffic enough to support it; second, government aid by cash and bond guarantees had been given lavishly and without discretion; third, competition of duplicate mileage depleted still more the revenues from inadequate traffic; and, finally, the period of the Great War and the inability to secure capital brought the chaos to a climax.1

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