See the Intercolonial Railway, "The ICR was Canada's first national railway (although some might argue the case for the GTR), having pre-dated the CPR by nine years, and it was also the first significant Crown corporation. The ICR was a pervasive and ubiquitous presence in the Maritimes, with the company employing thousands of workers, purchasing millions of dollars in services, coal, and other local products annually, operating ferries to Cape Breton Island at the Strait of Canso, and carrying the Royal Mail. The IRC was the face of the federal government in many communities in a region that was still somewhat hostile to what many believed was a forced Confederation (anti-Confederation organizers remained active in Nova Scotia and particularly New Brunswick into the 1880s).
In 1915 the ICR, together with the federally-owned National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) and the Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR), as well as several bankrupt or defunct shortlines in New Brunswick, were grouped under the collective banner of the Canadian Government Railways (CGR) for funding and administrative purposes, although each company continued to operate independently.
On September 6, 1918, the bankrupt Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was nationalized by the Borden government, as part of a three-year long programme of re-organization of Canadian railways by Minister of Railways and Canals John Dowsley Reid. The CNoR's government-appointed Board of Management was directed to assume control of the CGR system at this time. On December 20, 1918, Reid consolidated the management of the various companies by creating the Canadian National Railways (CNR), by means of an order issued by the Privy Council. Another bankrupt western railway system, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR), was nationalized by the federal government on March 7, 1919, and became part of the CNR system on July 12, 1920. GTPR's parent company, the GTR was also nationalized on May 21, 1920, before being included in the CNR system on January 30, 1923.
The ICR had been called the 'People's Railway' and this slogan was similarly applied to the CNR for a period.
Despite many claims of political interference in its construction and subsequent operation, the majority of IRC from an operations viewpoint remained economically self-sufficient. This was largely because ICR balance books never had to contend with falling freight and passenger revenues as a result of post-Second World War highway construction and airline usage. During the 42-year life of the ICR from 1876 to 1918, the railway had grown to a monopoly position in land transportation."R. Seal, Image & Found by Eric Brunelle.
