284 Our North Land. 



North- West be discharged with the construction of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway. Indeed, should the lands of the great prairie 

 country be exhausted in procuring funds for that railway, and no 

 means remain for the construction of lines in communication 

 between the North-West and Hudson's Bay — three of which at least 

 are necessary — an injustice will be accomplished which the North- 

 West Provinces of the future will never be able to overcome. 



There are but two methods open, it seems to me, for railway 

 development in the North- West. The one, that the Federal Gover- 

 ment retain the lands and carry on the work of railway construc- 

 tion under direct Federal patronage and supervision ; the other, that 

 the central authorities cede the lands to the local Governments, 

 and that the requisite Hudson's Bay roads be undertaken by the 

 latter. There are some strong objections to the last method on 

 national grounds — objections which ought to rule unless the eastern 

 provinces show a disposition to delay the construction of Hudson's 

 Bay railways ; and in that case the people of the North- West will be 

 justified in demanding control of the proposed roads and the lands 

 with which to build them. 



Some may regard the proposal to make the Hudson's Bay route 

 the principal outlet of the North-West as fraught with too much 

 opposition to the Canadian Pacific Railway. If so, it is a great 

 mistake. The Hudson's Bay route will not injure the Canadian 

 Pacific, and the friends of that line will commit a grave error to 

 show the slightest opposition to it. On the contrary, the Canadian 

 Pacific which has cost Canada so much money, and which is justly 

 the pride and the boast of the Canadian people, will be greatly bene- 

 fited by the fullest and most speedy development of communication 

 between the North-West and the northern sea. 



There are ten millions of unhappy people in Europe who should 

 find their way to happy prairie homes in the North-West during 

 the next quarter of a century. This can only be done by opening 

 the Hudson's Bay route. The greater the population of the prairie 

 country, the larger will be the volume of trade between it and the 

 eastern Provinces, and the more the Canadian Pacific will benefit. 

 Hence we propose no war on Canada's transcontinental highway, 



