pajari@winston.UUCP (George Pajari) (12/07/84)
A: I am one inhabitant of the West who strongly believes the Crow Rate had to go, however... B: one must recall that large parts of Western Canada were given to the (Eastern) railways in return for the Crow Rate. Do you know how much of downtown Vancouver (for example) is owned by CP and CN? Put it this way, when the government needed land for a) the rapid transit system, and b) expo 86 they dealt with Marathon Realty (the property arm of CP Rail)!
mart@utai.UUCP (Mart Molle) (12/07/84)
> A: I am one inhabitant of the West who strongly believes the > Crow Rate had to go, however... > > B: one must recall that large parts of Western Canada were given > to the (Eastern) railways in return for the Crow Rate. > > Do you know how much of downtown Vancouver (for example) is > owned by CP and CN? Put it this way, when the government > needed land for a) the rapid transit system, and b) expo 86 > they dealt with Marathon Realty (the property arm of CP Rail)! Large parts of downtown *Toronto* are owned by the railways too. This problem is not unique to the west. Right now Marathon Realty is in the midst of a long fight to essentially double the size of the downtown financial district (i.e., the infamous ``Bay Street'' where all the corporate headquarters are located) by ripping out the freight and maintenance yards adjacent to Union station.