CN Acquires 4 Subsidiaries Of Quebec Railway Corp

Well, yes and no. Part of it's political, part of it is a serious need. Northern New Brunswick has been an economically depressed area all of my life, (in fact, it's never really prospered to any degree) and the situation now is worse than it has ever been since the early 1930's. The area isn't going to attract investment i.e. the tech sector because of the scant amount of people with better than a high school education. Tens of thousands of people have run to Alberta for "Opportunity" even if it's laying floor tile or working in a "Tim's" for a whopping $16 per hour.

CN coming back into the region is a positive sign for some level of development, not to mention control of an alternate route in the event of a line closure due to the elements or an accident. St. John may be sitting idle, but it's shorter from Belledune, and CN will probably NOT discount the shippers on that factor, but traffic will still bottleneck at Riviere Du Loup. From what I last heard, there isn't (surprisingly) as much container traffic across Maine to save time as there logically should be, but again, there has to be politics involved. With the crunch hitting Alberta, I'm sure behind closed doors the legislature is screaming at the Premier of New Brunswick and Ottawa to do something to stem the flow of people from the region. Everybody needs a job, and by the government's own admission, the North Shore of New Brunswick has been NEGLECTED from development and projects for DECADES, except for things nobody else wants in their communities -- like a lead smelter in Belledune. That thing was welcomed with open arms. It's time the people between Mirimichi and Matapedia got a break, and the return of CN is the signs of a long overdue economic thaw. Besides, the incumbent Premier won the seat by the skin of his own seat. If he and the party want to keep the office, he's got to win votes in Northern New Brunswick. He's got a pretty good chance with CN behind him if this project goes through to reality.

D/

I'd like to see more support for small business pushed by this province,lets face it the fishery and forest products industry are slowly dieing and for decades the north shore has based its economy off these 2 industries.Our government is wasting money on large industry to keep it on life support.

Call centers are not the answer,they are idiots for thinking they are,they want to be self sustaned but can't afford to pave many roads destroyed by overweight trucks or provide decent health care

Saint John is doing fine,Moncton is doing very well and well Fredericton is well....full of so much hot air its probably to blame for global warming once you get north of Woodstock it gets worse and worse

You know its bad when you admit CN comming back to town makes residents smile

You're right about CN making people smile, like the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. Now like before, people can get a job with CN on the North Coast where their job security is dangled over their head like a machette with each paycheque. As long as Irving and McCain have their choke-holds on the Province, there's not much hope, and yes, those phone centres are no future for kids to bank on for a living.

You have to wonder though, what was going on that Irving didn't purchase NBEC or get into a bidding war with CN over it. Irving could have expanded it's rail empire, but perhaps they're in some kind of deep financial trouble. If Irving didn't purchase NBEC, either they don't have the money (another factor in why they nixed the new refinary at St. John) OR they don't see the economic outlook for Northern New Brunswick as anything to invest in, anytime soon.

It will be interesting to see what CN does next with the line in the next year.

D/

I think the main reason was the Irvings really don't have much up that way of their own industry to make it worth their wild.

When CP left town the Irvings had their largest mill without a railroad connection hence why they bought the old CP line,and same with the east Saint John tracks from CN just to service the other mill and the refinery they really only wanted to keep it all in house.

Whats up north that they have on the line? nothing so they don't even look at it kinda sad when you think about it

In Dalhousie, Irving has an offloading facility and tank farm. Petroleum products are offloaded off shore from oil tankers, the Irving site is adjacent to the Abitibi Bowater pulp mill that closed nearly two years ago. The line from Dalhousie Junction serves the two locations and it isn't as busy as it used to be.

D/

I know of the Irving family and they are a bunch of crooks! When i used to sail for Shell Oil and we used to talk to the crews on there ships they had no benefits what so ever and they were totally anti-union and probably still are!!!
Guess whos' ship yard got the contract years ago,Irving's ship yard! When we had a Conservative government in Ottawa who was Brian Mulrooney enough said!!!
Thank God the Irvings' didn't NBEC railway
The Irvings and McCaines have ruled New Brunswick like a Feudal Kingdom for decades!!!

Dieter wrote:You're right about CN making people smile, like the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. Now like before, people can get a job with CN on the North Coast where their job security is dangled over their head like a machette with each paycheque. As long as Irving and McCain have their choke-holds on the Province, there's not much hope, and yes, those phone centres are no future for kids to bank on for a living.

You have to wonder though, what was going on that Irving didn't purchase NBEC or get into a bidding war with CN over it. Irving could have expanded it's rail empire, but perhaps they're in some kind of deep financial trouble. If Irving didn't purchase NBEC, either they don't have the money (another factor in why they nixed the new refinary at St. John) OR they don't see the economic outlook for Northern New Brunswick as anything to invest in, anytime soon.

It will be interesting to see what CN does next with the line in the next year.

D/

why did cn sell all of these tracks and now they are recaquiring them? is this part of hunter harrison's plan before he leaves?

Rumours are that CN wanted to bust up the unions in that area. Give CN the chance, they'd probably do it across the system...

I work for them.. and am in the union.. the union which has done nothing to protect me. I'd sooner see it gone too, if wages wouldn't drop to $10 an hour and all of us replaced by foreign under-cutters who can't speak a word of english or french.

CFBC / NBEC /CFMG were created about five or six years ago, but for some reason it feels more like TEN. These lines were divested at the same time that all kinds of little (and not so little feeder lines) were sold off all across Canada. The Montreal Maine & Atlantic and the New Brunswick Southern were formed around 2003 when Canadian Pacific foolishly ended their reign as a "Transcon". Never made any sense to me in the age of container shipping too. Bangor And Aroostok went broke, was purchased, and reorganized by the purchaser of the CP line from Sherbrooke to Brownville Junction. East of Brownville Junction was purchased by IRVING LTD.

The CN lines were shed to generate cash to purchace the Illinois Central. It was actually quite clever from a sleazy managerial standpoint;

1) Bust the unions out

2) Expand in a more profitable market.

Keep in mind that all these little feeders and divisions if they survived as short lines were all corked up at one end by CN, putting them solely at the mercy of CN. I think we will all agree; that's not a position one wants to be in. The problem in New Brunswick is like anyplace else in Appalachia (and it is geographically in the chain!), kids have to stay in school, finish high school and aspire to the University level. Young people have to get better educations and BRING BACK to Northern New Brunswick training and skills to develop the place. Beyond being a source for employment, having CN on the scene can help the region thrive and develop by moving new and renewed commerce in, out and through the region. Let's not forget that for generations now, the CN moving freight and passenger trains in the region have been the sole lifeline to the outside world. I can remember when you couldn't make the trip to Montreal from there without spending two days on dirt roads and at times, wondering if you would ever break through a treeline to civilization. Anybody remember in Quebec when 132 was "Route 6"? Route 11 NB which was redeveloped and moved is now route 134, and if you use that road now, it's hard to believe that the only road in and out of the area was old Route 11.

The return of CN can only be an improvement. Keep an ear to the rail for developments in Belledune, and what happens next to the CFBC. I recently heard there was a plan to link Murdochville with Gaspe, but the line was nixed due to projected cost. The line has (had) been surveyed over some pretty "Dramatic" countryside, someone told me it would probably have been the most spectacular ride in North America if it had been built. They're mining something in the interior, it will have to get to the coast and we know how the best way to get bulk anything to anywhere is; RAIL.

The fat lady hasn't sung for CFBC, let's hope she never does.

D/