91 1 



CANADA, PARLIAMENT OF. 



had full legislative authority to provide for the con- 

 struction ot local railways running from one point to 

 another within the limits of the province. 



2. That by section 15 of the charter it is provided 

 as follows, viz. : 



" For twcntv years from the date hereof, no line of 

 railway shall be authorized by the Dominion Parlia- 

 ment to be constructed south of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway from any point at or near the Canadian Pa- 

 cific Railway, except such line as shall run southwest 

 or to the westward of southwest, nor to within fifteen 

 miles of latitude 49% and in the establishment of any 

 new province hi the Northwest Territories, provision 

 shallije made for continuing such prohibition artersuch 

 establishment until the expiration of said period." 



3. That during the debate in the House of Com- 

 mons on the act to confirm the charter, objection was 

 taken to the monopoly and limitation proposed to be 

 created by the said clause. 



4. That during the debate in explanation of its real 

 meaning and effect, and of the policy of the Govern- 

 ment on the subject, and with a view to obviate such 

 objection, the Right Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, 

 then and now First Minister, used the following lan- 

 guage: 



" In order to give them a chance we have provided 

 that the Dominion Parliament mind you, the Do- 

 minion Parliament, we can not check any other Par- 

 liament, we can not check Ontario, we can not check 

 Manitoba shall, for the first ten years after the con- 

 struction of the road, give their own road, into which 

 they are putting so much money and so much land, a 

 fair chance of existence." 



5. That thereafter in the course of the debate, 

 Thomas White, Esq., then a supporter and now a 

 member of the Government, with the same object 

 used the following language : 



" But we are told now that because of the fifteen 

 miles there never can be any other railway into this 

 country. To what does that apply? simply to the 

 territories over which the Dominion Parliament has 

 control. There is nothing to prevent Manitoba now; 

 if it thinks proper, granting a charter from Winnipeg 

 to the boundary -line. At this very moment there is 

 a company in course of organizatiou to build a rail- 

 road from Winnipeg to West Lynn on the boundary, 

 and after this agreement is ratified. This provision 

 does not take away from Manitoba a single right it 

 possesses. In fact, this Parliament could not take 

 away those rights. It has the same rights as the 

 other provinces for the incorporation of railway com- 

 panies within the boundary of the province itself ? and 

 there is nothing to prevent the Province of Manitoba 

 from chartering a railway from Winnipeg to the 

 boundaryto connect with any southern railway. The 

 only guarantee which this company has under the 

 contract, is that the traffic shall not be tapped far west 

 on the prairie section, thus diverting the traffic away 

 from their line to a foreign line. But there is nothing 

 to prevent a railway being built in Manitoba within 

 the province that would carry the traffic to any rail- 

 way that may tap it from the American side. " That 

 is the position with respect to this matter." 



6. That on the explanations made Parliament con- 

 firmed the charter. 



7. That three provinces of the Dominion, viz., 

 Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia, are or may 

 be affected by the construction to be placed on the 

 said provision, and the policy of the Government in 

 regard thereto. 



8. That since the confirmation of the said charter, 

 the local Legislature of Manitoba has passed several 

 acts creating companies for the construction of rail- 

 ways within the province. 



9. That some of these acts have been disallowed, 

 on the advice of the Government of the day, on the 

 ground as expressed in the report of the Minister of 

 Justice, of date Jan. 4. 1882, approved by order in 

 council, Jan. 12, 1882, that the acts conflict with the 

 settled policy of the Dominion as evidenced by the 



clause in the contract with the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way Company, which was ratified and adopted by 

 Parliament. 



10. That on Feb. 5, 1884, Sir Charles Tupper, then 

 Minister of Railways, in proposing to this House reso- 

 lutions authorizing a large loan to the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Company ? with a view to induce the House 

 to agree to the said loan and with the object of ex- 

 pounding authoritatively the policy of the Govern- 

 ment on the subject, made the following statement : 



" I showed on a former occasion that the present 

 Government had adopted the policy of their prede- 

 cessors in regard to what is called the monopoly in the 

 province of Manitoba ; that when the late Govern- 

 ment undertook to carry on the construction of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway as a Government work, 

 they felt bound to protect the traffic of the road from 

 being drawn off to lines to the south of us in the ad- 

 joining republic, and had consequently refused to 

 issue a proclamation which would charter lines within 

 the province of Manitoba to connect with American 

 lines to the south. I said that the present Government, 

 when we came into power, adopted that policy ; that 

 we felt as our predecessors did, that, grappling with so 

 gigantic a work as the construction of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, we were bound to adopt every possi- 

 ble means of protecting our own line against having 

 its traffic drawn to lines to the south and, mark you, 

 this was at a time when we did not contemplate at an 

 early day carrying the Canadian Pacific Railway farther 

 than Port Arthur. I said further that when we made 

 it obligatory upon the Canadian Pacific Railway to 

 extend at once the line north of Lake Superior, giving 

 us an all-rail route from Montreal to the Pacific Ocean, 

 or from Callander to the Pacific Ocean, we felt obliged 

 to give to that company, upon which we imposed 

 such onerous obligations, all the security that we had 

 considered necessary, and that our predecessors in the 

 Government had considered necessary, for the pro- 

 tection of the Canadian Pacific Railway. But I am 

 glad to be able to state to the House, that although 

 true to that policy, the Government refused to L'ive 

 assent to the construction of lines within the Province 

 of Manitoba to connect with American railways to the 

 south. Such is the evidence presented by the operation 

 of the line so far as it has gone, such is the conclusion 

 arrived at by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company 

 itself in regard to the ability of a throuirh line of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway to take care of itself, and by 

 the inherent power of its own advantages to maintain 

 its position notwithstanding any competition to which 

 it may be subjected, we are now in a position to re- 

 view and to reconsider the policy of the late Govern- 

 ment and the policy of the present Government . 

 the continued necessity for any long period of pro- 

 tecting the .Canadian Pacific Railway against competi- 

 tion within the province of Manitoba, and I a: 

 to be able to state to the House that such is the confi- 

 dence of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in 

 the power of the Canadian Pacific Railway to protect 

 itself that when the line is constructed north of Lake 

 Superior, the Government feel it will not be incum- 

 bent upon them to preserve the position they have 

 hitherto felt bound to preserve, that of refusing to 

 consent to the construction of lines within the prov- 

 ince of Manitoba, connecting it with American rail- 

 ways to the south. I can give no better evidence to 

 the House and the country of the advanced position 

 which we consider this great enterprise of the Cana- 

 dian Pacific Railway has attained, than when I say 

 that I feel it is consistent with what we owe to the 

 people of this country and to that great national work, 

 that the Government should not deem it incumbent 

 on themselves to pursue the restrictive policy \\ uiila 

 the province of Manitoba which we have hitherto been 

 obliged to maintain." 



11. That upon said explanation and statement Par- 

 liament agreed to the loan. 



12. That the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway 

 has been constructed north ot Lake Superior. 



