Back in the 1970s, Bill Vander Zalm was building his Fantasyland in Delta and was made to adhere to all the highway rules regarding access, etc. He was ticked to say the least so in the mid-1980s when he became premier, he set about dismantling highways and privatized most of the operation (good or bad).
Then came Gordon Campbell, who sold B.C. Rail to CN Rail with a whole lot of concessions. It was at this time that Campbell told British Columbians that any rail expansions (like the Dease Lake line) would be done by CN at their costs. We pretty well know where that’s going. I mention this as I don’t know how much Campbell and his henchmen changed the CN Rules in CN’s favour.
In 1990, I was an area manager for highways and covered the area around Prince George. CN sent us a letter advising that they were going to improve the ”Miworth Crossing” and the costs would be around $50,000. At that time, there was a section of highways run by Ron Grant where I could check just who was senior at the crossing.
Believe it or not the highways were there before the railway and therefore we were senior and did not have to shoulder the costs. That is not to say that the other 2 crossings are senior that would all need checking, it just points to the fact that the Miworth crossing was senior. Who knows what route the road took to get out to that area? Hopefully Campbell didn’t give that away when he gave CN all those concessions. There is a very good chance that the City of Prince George is not on the hook for those costs.
Terry Burgess
Prince George
