What were the economically and social effects of the Canadian Pacific Railway?

[gekkostate]

Please give me some details. Thank you =)

[spiffer1]

One major effect was the settling of the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Many settlers to these provinces came across the Atlantic on Canadian Pacific passenger liners. They introduced the languages and cultures of the Eastern European nations. This has made Canada a multicultural nation.

[The Gold Pan Man]

When the CPR was completed in 1885:

SHORT TERM / IMMEDIATE

- the city of Vancouver is manufactured as the terminus of the railway
-the population growth in mainland British Columbia exploded and the economy boomed with it
-the tone of relations between Metis/First Nations society in the west and industrial society in the east dramatically changed. Riel's second attempt at "rebellion" was quickly and forcefully put down and the tone of treaty making became much more openly assimilative. This was followed by the passage of the first "Indian Act".
-mass settlement on the prairies began.
-the kernal of the national parks system started at Banff Springs

MEDIUM (following decade and half)

-the whole shape of settlement in the west changed as population centres and hubs of activity shifted towards the new rail line. Places like Battleford, Rocky Mountain House, Edmonton, the Yellowhead Pass ceased to be the trade centers of their area as other places like Calgary, Revelstoke, Brandon, Regina and Banff, all of which did not exist prior to the arrival of the railway, became the primary centers of the west
-having a choke hold on new resource markets because of their control of access to those areas, the CPR begins to monopolize and alter the economy to what profits them. They dictate use of lands in the city of Vancouver. They gain a stranglehold on overseas shipping from the port. They take over steamship routes across the west to direct trade towards railway dependent centres. They take over utilities, smelters, hotels etc all to keep their business plan intact and the very nature of their serviced communities is permanently altered

LONG (into the depression)

-fighting the grosser elements of the monopoly becomes a public cause which eventually results in the majority of western railroads being made public as they are concentrated into Canadian National. This all comes about as government over encourages and funds private competition which promptly fails.
-as competition is improperly encouraged, those areas already serviced by the CPR become ever more sunk into monopoly dependancy as the corporation is shut out of expansion into new markets and is forced into solely "internal" growth.


Comment: I've hardly scraped the surface by this assessment but I hope it leads you towards what you're looking for. Most all of western Canada is today is defined by the simple choices made by the CPR 130 years ago. Just the fact that two of the biggest four cities in Canada are built around CPR stations (Vancouver and Calgary) should say it all.