s announced that the directors were considering building
a line from North Bay, through New Ontario westward, to a terminus on
the Pacific at Port Simpson or Bute Inlet. It would be a line of the
highest standards. Government aid, the announcement continued, would
certainly be sought and expected.

Once more railways became Canadian politics. There was little doubt
that the government would aid either this or some rival
transcontinental scheme. Opposition to the lavish subsidy policy of
the past had developed, indeed, but it was overwhelmed by the demands
from every quarter for a vigorous forward policy. It was Canada's
growing time, and new-born confidence spurred country and government
on. But if the line was to be not merely a private enterprise, but in
part a policy of state, then considerations of high politics and low
politics alike came in, and compelled material changes in the Grand
Trunk's scheme before it could secure government acceptance.

A road from North Bay west would satisfy the local demands of the
western provinces, but would not satisfy the local demands of the East,
or meet certain common national {207} aspirations. Eastern, and
particularly Quebec, interests, demanded that any new trans-continental
should be built far to the north, opening up the wilderness between
Hudson Bay and the Laurentian highlands bordering the St Lawrence. A
Quebec company, the Trans-Canada, was in fact urgently seeking support
for such a line, endeavouring, since patriotism is in Canada the last
refuge of the promoter, to stimulate investors by stressing the
military advantages of the remote route. Again, the Maritime Provinces
protested against aid to a company to carry the traffic of the West to
Boston and Portland instead of to St John and Halifax.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the prime minister, endeavoured to combine all
these ends. His plan provided for a road 3550 miles in length,
beginning at Moncton--a neutral point between the politically
inconvenient rivalries of St John and Halifax--crossing New Brunswick
northwesterly, skirting the Maine border, and on to Quebec City, where
the St Lawrence was to be crossed by a great bridge. Thence it would
strike westerly far to the north of existing settlements. From
Winnipeg the previously proposed route was followed. The West would
have the development and {208} competition demanded, the hinterland of
Quebec and Ontario would be opened, and the ports of the Mariti