The CPR and CNR in Canada.

House of Commons Debates, November 18, 1977. Ottawa,
Simma Holt, Liberal (Vancouver-Kingsway):

Mrs. Holt:
     "The CPR is no longer a railroad, which is the reason for it's existence. In fact, that railroad might simply be called a "front" for its exploitation of other interests in this country. The railroad is simply there to further CP's moneymaking, and I would go for far as to say greed."
     "Like the hon. member, I know the reputation of the railway, specifically the Canadian Pacific, which has taken so much of what should be the property of Canadians."
     "I support strongly this motion which could lead the government to amend section 88 of the Railway Act, causing the railway rights-of-way, originally obtained through subsidies, to revert to the Crown when they are no longer in use as a railway and for railway purposes."
     "The CPR failed to live up to...an agreement to serve this nation and to give something to this nation in perpetuity...The CPR was to provide passenger service to this country in perpetuity...The subsidy in the agreement was $25 million, a grant of 25 million acres of land, in alternate sections of 640 acres in a belt 24 miles deep on each side of the railroad."
     "CPR has developed and exploited our natural resources. There are steamships, telecommunications and hotels..
 .The CPR is a railway, and I hope the day will come when there is action to retrieve some land before it has all gone into real estate development."
SUGGESTED REVERSION TO CROWN OF RAILWAY RIGHTS OF WAY
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The City of Vancouver recently paid the Canadian Pacific Railway $55 million dollars for an abandoned railway line called the Arbutus Corridor. A few years ago the railway wanted to redevelop or selloff:
Obico Yards - a 74-acre site located at Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke.
Montreal's Lucien L'Allier, 3 acres.
The 94-acre Strathcona Yards in Edmonton, Alberta.
How interesting, the corporation is so determined to sell Canadian property that it received for nothing.
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House of Commons Debates, March 3, 1978. Ottawa.
Mr. George H. Whittaker, Progressive Conservative.
     "When the CN and CP abandon rail lines, as they are prone to do, the corridors, the rights of way, should revert to the Crown."
House of Commons Debates, February 28, 1978. Ottawa. 
Mr. George H. Whittaker, Progressive Conservative.
RAILWAY ACT - MEASURE RESPECTING OWNERSHIP OF LAND WHERE RAILWAY LINE ABANDONED.
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The government of Sir John A. Macdonald gave the CPR 25 million acres of land and $25 million dollars, with the understanding that any land no longer needed by the railway would revert to the Crown. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau tried to reclaim CPR reversionary property in Banff, Alberta:

A Report by the Auditor General of Canada.

Train stations in the Province of Quebec that were designated heritage buildings by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The Central Station in Montreal was divested in 2007.