Milwaukee_F40C wrote:Why do you say that? What business does the Canadian government have owning the railroad when it can be much more productive and efficient in the private sector?
If you need to ask that, you must be from "South of the Line", and please don't take that the wrong way. CN was formed as a "Crown Corporation" until it was foolishly and tragically privatized. Crown Corporations were owned by the Government for the purpose of serving the nation and it's people.
The idea of owning a railroad was supposed to be that the railway SERVED the Nation with affordable, subsidized freight rates and cheap tickets for passengers, rather than a profiteering entity making money hand over fist for a block of investors. It's the damndest concept that's been lost with the twenty-something MBA's; if you drop the price, you can generate MORE revenue by attracting business you potentially drive off with high prices.
In most places until perhaps thirty years ago (many places it hasn't changed), work is/was seasonal. We joke that there are two seasons; Winter and Construction. Well, during the Winter, which in most places north runs from Halloween until Queen Victoria's Birthday (late May), the majority lived off their canned garden goods and money earned the rest of the year. The unemployment check was unheard of by many until around 1970.
Did you know that until the past twenty years, Canada had one of the lowest inflation rates in the industrialized world? Cheap, controlled rates did two things in Canada; 1) It kept the cost of living down. 2) It encouragd commerce by keeping transit cheap. Also, as the population grew, a cheap ticket home for a visit on CN made the prospect of leaving one's geographic area for work in another region more appealing. The objective of CN's creation and existance was to facilitate GROWTH in the Dominion.
Another Crown Corporation formed at the expense of the Canadian Tax Payer was PETRO CANADA, which was also privatized and sold off in recent years. Again, it was formed to SERVE the Canadian People, it was formed after the gas lines and oil embargo in the early 1970's. When Petro Canada was formed, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau proclaimed that it would be "Sufficient Energy for an Energy Efficient Canada", which became an early buzz-slogan in advertising. The concept (since lost) was, regardless what OPEC did or whatever the world situation was, there was a domestic source of oil, pumped from land owned by the Crown, so Canadians would never get hosed at the pump again.
In the summer of 2008 with gas higher than it has ever been, Canadians were left screaming as to why if it's being pumped out of the ground and refined domestically, it's being sold to Canadians at a price set by a Raghead in Vienna? D O H! It was privatized instead of being held in the interest of the Canadian People. The liquidation of Petro Canada by Ottawa is tantamount to if the White House sold off the Strategic Oil Reserve to China or any other private entity.
OK, something happened, the wrong people got control at the top and socialized medicine has gone down the crapper, CN is run by a bunch of Americans, and petroleum salvation for Canadians is now in foreign hands as well. There's a lesson in that for everybody on both sides of the border.
You asked what business does the Government have in owning a railroad? Depending on the TYPE of government you're talking about, and it's objectives in either serving the populace, or pandering to select special interest groups, I think you will agree EVERYTHING is the answer. Look at the States? Do you really think that Obama and the hacks he's surrounded with know anything about running GM or the banking sector? Again, it depends on the objective of the government.
When things fail, the government is always called in. In the case of Canada, rather then being founded from bankruptcy and failure, the Crown Corporations were formed from scratch to proliferate growth and development, NOT profit. FYI, Air Canada was a Crown Corporation with the same thing in mind; affordable fares to keep people moving. Since it's been privatized, it's gone down the tubes, and I don't know about your experience, but I won't fly it anymore unless I'm stuck without a choice, and given the choice, even when the train price is 2X the air ticket, I will take the train!
CP has always been a private corporation geared for Profit while the objective of creating CN was to SERVE ALL CANADA, and the difference in passenger service amenities for the price was night and day. Look up a fellow named Tommy Douglas;
http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/parties ... lips/3045/
who happens to be the Grandfather of one Kiefer Sutherland. Tommy was the Premier of Saskatchewan, and the architect of Canadian Democratic Socialism and the Canadian Healthcare System, not to be remotely confused with the kind of Democratic Socialism everyone's screaming about on American News Channels these days.
It's a deep subject, but encapsulated, I hope that helps bring the matter into focus a little better.
D/