Canadian Pacific Railway Case Study

During the 1870s, Canada and Europe suffered a great depression. So in 1878, John A. Macdonald launched his National Policy which introduced tariffs to keep Canadian markets safe from international competition, therefore creating jobs and motivating Canadian industry. He then re-launched the railway project because he felt that the transcontinental railway will help the country in terms of growth. During that time, United States already has a transcontinental railroad pressure from the south. Macdonald’s government granted massive grants to the Canadian Pacific Railway. Canadian Pacific Railway was founded in 1881 (Lavalle, 2008). It was created to connect Canada’s both populated and unpopulated areas. The amazing engineering was finished

In 1988, the company had imprinted out its portion of its network that was in the east of Megantic, Quebec. This portion had been differentiated as a separate entity called Canadian Atlantic Railway. In 1993, the company had revealed the following news, “Thousands of miles of uneconomic trackage must be shed in Canada...” (Murray, 2011, p.142). The company came to this conclusion because of the massive sustaining losses it faced over the last three years. The announcement was in regards in acquiring the action to seek a regulatory approval in order to leave all operations that was east of Sherbrooke, Quebec (Murray, 2011, p.142). CP Rail System had been occupied with continuing discussions with CN North America in regards with improving the railway facilities in Eastern Canada. Yet, these discussions were leading both companies progressing nowhere. Both carriers, CP and CN however did manage to be successful in sharing their facilities, such as between Montreal and North Bay,

However, the development of the railway had a persisting effect on the Western landscape and environment. Now in regards with the impact of CPR in western Canada, it was said to be not always a peaceful relationship that existed between the CPR and the cattle industry in the west. Railway also affected the landscape and the environment of the West. The impact of the railway on people in particular was examined by Hugh Dempsey, a well-known historian and author examined the culture shock experienced by the Indian people, as the CPR had sneaked their way across the prairie. CPR was responsible for the unfortunate living conditions of the Indians on their reserves. Pioneer life had indeed became very difficult and created hardship, other than that though, the coming of the railway encouraged more settlement, established communications with Central Canada, and created a pattern of growth in the West (Wright,