The Canadian Pacific Railway has received nearly 44 million acres of free land.

House of Commons Debates, Ottawa    October 31, 1983
Douglas Keith Anguish, New Democratic Party

Mr. Anguish:
     "If one looks at the land history of the rail companies in this country, particularly Canadian Pacific, one will see that over the period of time it has been in existence (it has received) some 43,962, 546 acres of land...It has also received hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in the transportation system of this country...It was part of the Confederation agreement to hold this country together."
     "But they did not reinvest that money, they decided to expand:
Canadian Pacific Limited subsidiaries
CP AirLines Ltd,
CP Steamships Ltd.
CP Express and Transport Ltd.
Can Pac International Freight Services
Soo Line Railroad Company
CP Telecommunications
CP Enterprises
Pan Canadian Petroleum Ltd.
Cominco Ltd.
Fording Coal Ltd.
CIP Inc.
Pacific Forest Products Ltd.
Great Lakes Forest Products Ltd.
Algoma Steel Ltd.
Maple Leaf Mills Ltd.
Marathon Realty Corporation - Marathon Realty was interested in selling off a great amount of that 43,962,546 acres of land in order to reap more profits for Canadian Pacific."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1996 Canadian Pacific sold Marathon Realty to the American conglomerate General Electric and to Oxford Properties. The deal was worth almost a billion dollars. I am sure that GE and Oxford would not have paid a billion dollars if they did not acquire the air rights; rights-of-way; drilling rights; timber rights; mineral rights and water rights. A subsidiary of General Electric is GE Oil and Gas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A 1985 Supreme Court of Canada decision ordered Canadian Pacific Limited to return reversionary land (land that is not needed for railway purposes) to the people of Canada. We are talking about millions of acres of Canadian land that General Electric, the CPR and Oxford Realty are selling.
There should be a moratorium on the sale of former railway property such as:
The Arbutus Corridor in Vancouver.
A Corridor in Calgary, Alberta that is currently on the market.