the Dominion rests in the hands of a strong administration, led by a statesman of commanding ability and exceptional breadth of view. Courage and wisdom to build not merely for the present were never more vitally necessary to the well-being of Canada. The government in its transportation policy is showing the same broad faith in the destiny of the country revealed by its predecessors in connection with the building of the Canadian Pacific.
The rapid development of the west, and the increasing difficulty experienced in handling the grain crops of Manitoba and the territories, made it apparent two or three years ago that provision must be made—and made at the earliest possible moment—for additional transportation facilities between eastern and western Canada. The situation was partially relieved by the construction, through the enterprise of a couple of energetic Canadians, of the Canadian Northern Railway, which provides an additional outlet from the western wheat-fields to the head of navigation at Fort William, where connection is made with the steamers running to Owen Sound, Collingwood and other ports on Lake Huron. Even this rapidly growing system has, however, only partially met the situation. The real solution of the problem is being found in the great project for building another transcontinental road across Canada from ocean to ocean.
The Grand Trunk Pacific is the fruit of the brains of two very remarkable men, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. Charles M. Hays, general manager of the Grand Trunk railway. One saw the project from the point of view of national statesmanship; the other developed it as a practical business proposition. Briefly, the agreement between the Canadian government and the Grand Trunk Pacific is this: The new transcontinental is divided into two sections. The eastern section, from Moncton, New Brunswick, to Winnipeg, viâ Quebec, is being built by the government at the public expense, and upon completion will be leased to the Grand Trunk Pacific for fifty years, with the privilege of renewing the lease for a further period of fifty years. The western section, from Winnipeg, viâ Edmonton and the Peace River Pass to Port Simpson on the Pacific, is being constructed directly by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company, the Dominion government guaranteeing the bonds of the company to an amount equal to seventy-five per cent, of the cost of construction. When the entire road is completed, from Moncton, N. B., to Port Simpson, it will be operated by the Grand Trunk Pacific from ocean to ocean, and the railway will be supplemented, as in the case of the Canadian Pacific,[1] by lines of
- ↑ It may be noted here that the Canadian Pacific has arranged for the construction of several new vessels for their Atlantic service which are to have a guaranteed speed of twenty knots an hour and are expected to reduce the time from Moville to Rimouski to five days and four hours.
