"There are many reasons why the CNR should remain a publicly-owned corporation."

"In fact, the CPR should be nationalized as well in order to have one national railway system in Canada." Mr. Lorne Edmund Nystrom, New Democratic Party, February 9, 1978.
House of Commons Debates  Ottawa   February 9, 1978. 
     "When the CPR was formed it was given $25 million in cash on an outright gift basis; it was given 25 million acres of land; it was given other private railways that became part of the CPR in our country, and it was given all kinds of various rights and gifts by the federal government of this country. The CPR has been able to expand into several other businesses...It is involved in land development through Marathon Realty; it is involved in the airline business through CP Air; it is involved in the resource industry through Cominco; it is involved in oil through CP Oil."
     "When we consider CN we see the reverse situation. Instead of being given all kinds of gifts and subsidies, we find that the CNR was really formed when five railways in this country went bankrupt:
the Intercolonial Railway
the National Transcontinental Railway
the Grand Trunk Railway
the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
the Canadian Northern Railway.
...I want to say at the outset that I am in favour of this bill, which will take much of the debt from the CNR and put it on an equal footing with the CPR...
Let me now say a few words about my fear regarding the privatization of the CNR.
From the statements I have heard from the president of the CNR, Minister of Transport (Mr.Lang) and other officials of the railway and government, one of the objectives is to gradually sell off the CN. They will start doing that by selling off the more profitable aspects of the railway, that is, by taking away some of its profitable branches. They have already set up Via Rail and are now talking about  reorganizing other branches such as the hotel end...I maintain this should not be done...

There are many reasons why the CNR should remain a publicly owned company. In fact, the CPR should be nationalized as well in order to have one national railway in Canada. A transportation system should provide a basic service to people. It should not be existence simply to provide a profit to its shareholders. If the railway system is publicly owned then decent transportation will be provided to the various regions of our country.
If that system is privately owned, its main concern will be the making of a profit. I do not believe in that, but it is the motivation of the free enterprise system.
Transportation should not be organized in that way. If it is, there will be a greater concentration of people in the huge urban centres such as southern Ontario, metropolitan Montreal and the lower mainland of British Columbia. At the same time there will be fewer people living in the farm regions, the small towns, the Atlantic provinces, the North and other areas which are distant from the urban centres.
I hope parts off the CNR are not sold off. If they are, the ones sold off will be the profitable ones and the ones retained will be lose which are losing money. If the CNR and CPR are amalgamated and operated as a Crown corporation then it could be used as a major planning device for our economy and would assist in diversifying our population. Most Canadians live in three or four of the larger populations centres. This creates all kinds of problems in terms of crime rates, the noise of the big city, transportation problems and the hustle and bustle. Most of our big cities are built on the best farmland...If the urban centres are expanded then more farm land is paved over. By taking away the grain and oilseeds industries, Canada will not be self-sufficient in the production of food."