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Donna Kennedy-Glans: Carney must ensure sovereign wealth fund doesn't crowd out private business

The history of Canada's railways offers a lesson in the perils of nationalization

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“There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run.”

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That’s the first line of Gordon Lightfoot’s folk song, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” which was commissioned by the CBC for Canada’s centennial in 1967. I was only seven at the time but remember the tune well.

Donna Kennedy-Glans: Carney must ensure sovereign wealth fund doesn't crowd out private business Back to video

It captured something authentic about Canada: the awe of a vast, silent wilderness giving way to human ambition, sweat and iron. Navvies swinging hammers, bending their backs “ ’til the railroad is done.” It wasn’t government branding; it was a country hearing its own story in folk music.

Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney tried to strike a similar chord.

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