CN Rail was Canada's oldest Crown corporation, founded in the year 1918. CN Rail was privatized in 1995 and the richest man in the world Bill Gates will own 25% of the corporation in the near future.
Two years before the Crown corporation was privatized, millions of dollars worth of federal property was transferred for $1 dollar:
House of Commons Debates, Ottawa March 29, 1996
Mr. Chuck Strahl, (Fraser Valley East, Reform.)
"In 1993 the federal government sold the (Quebec) bridge to CN for $1 dollar with the proviso that CN maintain the bridge."
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House of Commons Debates, Ottawa March 29, 1996
Mr. Jim Jordan (Leeds-Grenville, Liberal.)
"Steps have been taken to have UNESCO designate the bridge an international historic landmark...I am very confident that CN will fulfill it's obligation agreed to in the 1993 Canadian government-CN agreement at which time the responsibility for the federal government's maintenance of the bridge ceased."
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House of Commons Debates, Ottawa December 1, 2009
Mr. Thomas Mulcair (Outremont, NDP.)
"...CN got infrastructure and projects worth billions of dollars in exchange for $1 dollar and a few undertakings, including maintaining and repairing the Quebec bridge, which it did not do. It now has the nerve to drag this matter through the courts...We in the NDP have always warned that we cannot trust private enterprise and give it control over assets that once belonged to the Crown because it will not do the work needed."
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| The Pont de Quebec. Bill Gates refused to refurbish the landmark in the year 2014. (Photo from Business Insider.) |
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| A scene from the Buster Keaton movie "The Railrodder." The Chateau Frontenac Hotel in Quebec City can be seen in the background. (blog.nfb.ca.) |
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