A Centennial Historical Perspective of the Canadian Transportation Agency and its Predecessors Available in multiple formats © Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2004 Printed and bound in Canada ISBN 0-662-34905-9 Catalogue No. TT4-2/2003E-PDF This document and other Canadian Transportation Agency publications are available in multiple formats and on its Web site at: www.cta.gc.ca. For more information about the Agency please call (819) 997-0344 or toll free 1 888 222-2592. Correspondence may be addressed to: Chief of Publishing Canadian Transportation Agency Ottawa, ON K1A 0N9 Cover photos: First passenger train to Edmonton from Winnipeg – Canadian Northern Railway Company, 1905, Photographer: G.D. Clark, CSTM/CN002380 • Ferry MV Federal Avalon, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, 1975, Photographer: M. Segal, CSTM/CN001689 • Porter assists passengers with their luggage, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1951, CSTM/CN002828 • A TCA Canadair DC-4M North Star flying over Kinley Airport, Bermuda, 1950, CSTM/CN000261 • Other 6 images are stock photography held by the Canadian Transportation Agency, ©Digital Vision. Acknowledgments Acentury ago, on February 1, 1904, Committee, chaired by Claude Jacques, the Board of Railway Commissioners Arun Thangaraj and Judie Carrigan. began work as Canada’s first independ- Other members of the Committee are: ent regulatory body with jurisdiction over Vice-Chairman Gilles Dufault, former transportation matters. The structure and Member Keith Penner, Craig Lee, Alison scope of that first Board evolved over the Hale, Nancy Hay, Katie Fillmore, Paul years to its present form as the Canadian Juneau, John Corey, Louise McCreadie, Transportation Agency, with jurisdiction Michelle Raby and Julie Leroux. The over air, rail and marine matters, as well French text revision was done by Paul as the responsibility to remove undue Houle. Preparation and publication were obstacles in transportation for persons co-ordinated by Judy Deland, the Agency’s with disabilities. Chief of Publishing. This history was commissioned as a The Agency would like to thank the centennial project by the Canadian following organizations for use of Transportation Agency to mark the their photos: the Canada Science and significance to Canadians of trans- Technology Museum Corporation, the portation regulation and how it has Pacific Pilotage Authority Canada and evolved over the past 100 years. The the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. Agency is the oldest tribunal in Canada. Design and layout prepared by Acart Communications Inc. Freelance writer Cecelia McGuire researched and wrote the history under the guidance of the Agency’s Centennial i A cknowledgments Contents Chairman’s Message 1 Chapter One: All Aboard, The Board of Railway Commissioners, 1904 to 1938 5 Chapter Two: Engines of Change, The Board of Transport Commissioners, 1938 to 1967 29 Chapter Three: Taking Control, The Canadian Transport Commission, 1967 to 1988 51 Chapter Four: Shifting Gears, The National Transportation Agency, 1988 to 1996 73 Chapter Five: Keeping Pace, The Canadian Transportation Agency, 1996 to 2004 87 Appendix: Members’ List 100 Bibliography 105 iii Chapter One — AContentsLL A BOARD 1904 TO 1938 Chairman’s Message In 2004, the Canadian Transportation development. Over time, uniquely Agency marks 100 years of service to Canadian institutions have been created Canadians in motion. to ensure that the public I believe, as this history of good is protected in the transportation regulation development of our chronicles, that the Agency transportation systems. and its predecessors reflect nothing less than the That first Board of Railway evolution of Canada itself, Commissioners, with its economic development jurisdiction over railway and its changing place in freight rates, construction the world. and abandonment, among other things, was quite On February 1, 1904, regimented in its approach. the Board of Railway It existed for 34 years, from Commissioners, with its authority over the heyday of railway expansion when railways, was established as the Canadian railway promoters rushed hither and yon government’s first independent to lay down new tracks, until the regulatory body. Depression-era retrenchment of railways and the emergence of competition from That first board, with the full powers of automobiles and aircraft. a Superior Court, became the model for not only the transportation agencies that The Board of Transport Commissioners succeeded it, but for federal regulators in was created in 1938 to succeed the first other fields as well. It is not surprising board and assume additional authority that the Canadian government’s over air and marine matters. However, regulatory history would have been the Government of Canada, seeking a pioneered by a transportation board. tighter rein on the airline industry, went The sheer vastness of our country has on to create a separate Air Transport made transportation perhaps the most Board in 1944. In 1947, the Canadian fundamental and critical component of Maritime Commission assumed authority Canadian economic and political over marine matters. 1 Chairman’s Message The Canadian Transport Commission (CTC), market entry and exit, as well as freedom which emerged in 1967, was created to to abandon operations. Airlines are still deal with all modes of transportation as regulated under the terms of interna- a competitive whole. Part of its mandate tional agreements but, domestically, they was to rationalize the over-built and can operate with relatively little intrusion under-used railways. It was a difficult by government. time for the Canadian railways and their customers, a time I recall from when I Today, the Agency deals much differently was living on the Prairies. A railway was with its clients and constituents than in allowed to apply to abandon rail lines; the past. Whereas its predecessors but the CTC was required to hold maintained a distance from their clients, hearings to determine if the service was the Agency today reflects how the world required in the public interest, in which has changed to become more user-friendly, case the service would be continued and more citizen-focused. Still mindful that the railway would be compensated. we are a court and must maintain Otherwise, lines were abandoned. independence and impartiality, we at It was an unwieldy and costly process. the Agency feel strongly that we have a responsibility to the public, carriers and In the early 1980s, Canada embraced the consumers to ensure they are fully aware international trend toward deregulation. of their rights and obligations under the The most notable development during Agency’s governing legislation. Our that period was the Staggers Act, which emphasis now is on communication and deregulated railways in the United States. outreach. At the same time, we strive Deregulation of airlines followed. The to keep up with developments in the move to deregulation in Canada was more transportation industry, to be informed gradual and balanced, and it led to the and tuned in. National Transportation Agency in 1987. We have shifted away from regulatory That trend toward less-intrusive regula- means whenever possible to finding tion has continued with the Canadian solutions through voluntary approaches. Transportation Agency in 1996, and its This is especially true in the area of regime is certainly the least regulated in accessible transportation for persons with our country’s history. Competition and disabilities. The mid-1990s saw two market forces are now the drivers, as significant sets of regulations develop, opposed to strict regulation. Railways the Terms and Conditions of Carriage and airlines are mainly free of rate for People with Disabilities and the regulation and they have freedom of Training Regulations for Personnel 2 Canadian Transportation Agency — 100 Years at the Heart of Transportation Dealing with Persons with Disabilities. resolve disputes through mediation. Our Both are far-reaching and apply to all experience to date indicates a 95 per cent federally regulated carriers. In the years success rate in helping the parties find since these initiatives were introduced, their own solutions, quickly and inexpen- we have increasingly sought voluntary sively. We intend to continue to provide compliance through codes of practice, mediation as an alternative dispute rather than by formal regulation. resolution process. These codes of practice were hammered The role of transportation regulation has out by the Agency, the community of always been to balance the interests of persons with disabilities and the carriers; shippers and consumers against the of course, they involved lots of consulta- interests of carriers. There is a natural tion, listening and refinement. But we tension between users and providers of were successful in putting the codes in transportation. Users always want better place and in setting target dates for their service and lower costs while providers implementation; with service standards want more business and more revenue. for all modes of transportation—rail, air and marine. That has been quite a Balancing those interests was the significant shift in our regulatory challenge presented to the Board of approach—from enforcement to Railway Commissioners when it first met voluntary compliance and monitoring. on a snowy February day 100 years ago. Since then, the one constant has been The position of Air Travel Complaints the need for a regulatory body commit- Commissioner, established in 2000 and