Part of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald’s “National Policy” was a railway linking Canada’s four eastern provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario) to the Pacific Ocean. The CPR was a bargaining tool to persuade the Northwest Territories and British Columbia to join the new Confederation (in 1870 and 1871, respectively). After its completion in 1885, the railroad not only bound the young country together, it also opened up vast areas for exploration and exploitation.
