ABSTRACT
With its relatively sparse population and immense distances between major urban centers, Canada has always depended on efficient transportation to link its disparate regions together. Indeed the nineteenth century Confederation of Canada was predicated on joining several British colonies with an east-west transcontinental railway. This key transportation system opened the country’s interior to global trade, enabling export resources to be sent by rail to distant coastal ports. Developing Canada’s east-west transportation corridor continued into the twentieth century with the federal government’s creation of the Trans-Canada Airlines (the predecessor of Air Canada), Trans-Canada Highway and Trans-Canada pipeline.
