FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127  
128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>  
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
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127  
128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>  



Top keywords:

Quebec

 
Canada
 

demands

 
politics
 
policy
 

government

 

scheme

 

satisfy

 
Halifax
 
company

Ontario
 

demanded

 

Lawrence

 

Provinces

 

Maritime

 

Laurentian

 

remote

 

highlands

 
traffic
 
Portland

Hudson

 

Boston

 

advantages

 

protested

 

bordering

 

patriotism

 
endeavouring
 
urgently
 

seeking

 
support

investors

 
stressing
 

stimulate

 
promoter
 
Mariti
 

refuge

 
military
 

endeavoured

 

border

 
crossed

skirting

 

crossing

 

Brunswick

 

northwesterly

 

bridge

 

Thence

 
Winnipeg
 

previously

 

proposed

 

settlements