An Editorial Opinion From The Globe And Mail; July 29, 2019
The construction of a railway line that linked the Canada created in 1867 with the western provinces that joined Confederation a few years later is an essential Canadian creation myth. The “national dream,” as John A. Macdonald called it, is mostly evoked as a feat of engineering that bound a young nation together.
But that’s the romantic side of the coin. Flip it over and you’ll find a different bit of train lore: A tale of corruption, cronyism, government bailouts, bankruptcies and nationalization, all of which lead us to today, where passenger services are taxpayer-subsidized and the lucrative business of hauling freight is in the hands of billion-dollar corporations created on the public dime.