The Mackenzie administration was not without accomplishments in this regard: in one term of office it oversaw the construction of several north-south lines that would assist Canadian exports. The Pacific Scandal cost Macdonald his administration, brought the Mackenzie Liberals into office, and a substitute railway company could not be found. The newly-established Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was a contender in 1873, but that plan ran off the proverbial rails when it was discovered that Macdonald’s Conservative Party had received significant funds from the CPR. The Grand Trunk Railway was the obvious candidate but its directors balked at the prospect of an all-Canadian route. Finding a company with the wherewithal to build a railway from Montreal to the Pacific was a whole different order of magnitude. After all, the colonies had laid some 3,200 km of track by 1865.
That task could be accomplished without too much difficulty. Completing the Intercolonial Railway between the original four provinces was a condition of Confederation.
