470 Out North Land. 



under a reign of competition that will secure the lowest possible 

 rates of transportation to the producer. This is what that great 

 country requires. The bread or beef, or pork producer, may 

 send his products to any and to all markets. He may patronize St. 

 Paul and Chicago, and in doing so he will have the benefit of com- 

 petition between the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and St. Paul, 

 Minneapolis and Manitoba roads. He may deal with Montreal and 

 Toronto, and this he will have the advantage of competition between 

 the Grand Trunk and the Canadian Pacific. He may export to and 

 import from Europe direct, and in this he will have the natural 

 channel by waj' of Hudson's Bay. 



Such, I take it, is the future of the great North- West in respect 

 of transportation. All the lines I have mentioned, and even others, 

 will be required to accommodate the country. I do not predict that 

 the system will be complete in a single decade, but I hope to live 

 long enough to witness every one of the lines I have indicated in 

 full operation. It will come to pass at any rate within a quarter of 

 a century, unless unwise Governmental policy prevents it. We may 

 safely hope, however, that in these days, no matter what political 

 party rules, the councils of the nation will be sufficiently wise and 

 liberal to secure the greatest possible degree of progress not only in 

 the North-West, but in all parts of Canada. The people of Manitoba 

 are fully justified now in their determination to secure free and 

 untrammelled railway and water communication with all parts of 

 the world possible to be reached; and, I do not think that the 

 interests of other portions of the Dominion require that the Central 

 Government should longer exercise a policy of prohibition towards 

 them. Let the walls of monopoly be broken down, and let us have 

 competition in railway traffic as well as in other departments of 

 commerce. 



