How did the building of the railway impact Canada?

Answer 1

Because it connected the country, east to west. It opened up the west to development and industry. Trading was easier because of this. it was created by the navie and the white men, who where promissed land if they did it.

Answer 2

The railway gave new opportunity for travel which helped the econiomy of Canada. The Provinces of Canada were all connected so it made upper and lower Canada joined, and it helped with a new way of shipping.

Answer 3

Before promising BC a railway Canada was a small confederation of 4 former British colonies and one new Canadian colony. Manitoba was at the time, a postage stamp province created out of the rebellions and ferment within Canada's recent purchase and acquisition of the North-West Territories.

Sending troops west to crush the early rebellions and uprisings had been difficult and it was clear that without the means to move troops quickly in the future such rebellions could easily become a successful revolution. Without the railway Canada would have had difficulty in maintaining military control over their new and somewhat hostile western acquisition.

In this sense the Railway is responsible for the Canada we see on maps today. Without the railway it is very possible that the majority of Canadian territory in the West and North would not be part of the Confederation. Particularly given the Canadian response to early expressions of discontent.

The Railway was also used to flood Western markets with Ontario made goods, increasing Eastern Canadian manufacturing. At first BC felt this the most as they had a significant decline in their manufacturing after the railway but the Canadian preference for Eastern goods and services continue to this day.

The Railway was also used to flood Western Canada, particularly the Prairie's with settlers to address the problem of the locals. This was very successful but Canada's treatment of these early settlers, was in many settlers view, less than acceptable. In large part because the early settlers were from Ontario where they had rights as members of a British Colony and then the rights of a founding member of the new Confederation. In the West they were treated as members of a Canadian colony with fewer rights and privileges. The railway helped Canada control the expression of those grievances as well.

The Railway did not so much change Canada, as create the Canada we have today. Without it Canada may have remained a confederation of small colonies clinging to a river and small section of the North American coast. Without Western resources and money Canada may not have been able to make a go of it at all, or maybe they would have taken over the world. Always hard to say what could have been.

Answer 4

The CNR was really more of a moral victory for Canada at the time.

What it essentially did for the country was connect the people who were living in the west to the people in the east. At the time the westerners were feeling disconnected from the country and were considering becoming a separate nation, however the railway made them feel as though they were connected to the east.

Additionally, the railway allowed for easier trade between the provinces, so that provinces could be more dependant on eachother, and less on the US.

Answer 5

Positively, very positively. Though it cost a lot of money Canada could have never forced it's rule on to what is today Western Canada if they did not have the railway. With the railway they were able to rapidly deploy troops to crush resistance to Canadian rule.

Once Canada had used the railway to crush resistance it was then used to transport many Canadians into the newly acquired territory to disenfranchise the locals. Eventually it was used to transport people from outside of Canada into the West to farm the lands.

Then the railway really began to pay off as Canada required all products from the West to be shipped via rail to the East, even though Western Canada had ocean ports that had been in use for hundreds of years. The extra cost of shipping and the cost of the railway was paid for by Western farmers.

Canada would not be Canada without the pacific railway.

Answer 6

It helped unite Canada as one country and made travelling and transportation easier

Answer 7

It let Canada have different cultures it has now.

Answer 8

because it linked the east and the west