Royal Commission on Transportation

Transportation, Royal Commission on

The Royal Commission on Transportation (MacPherson Commission) was appointed by the federal government (1959) to investigate transportation policy, particularly freight-rate inequities. In their 3-volume report (1961) the commissioners, under chairman Murdoch MacPherson, recommended that railways be allowed more freedom to eliminate uneconomic passenger service and branch lines and that they receive extra subsidies for grain-handling responsibilities imposed by Parliament. A new National Transportation Act was consequently passed. Its principles, eg, the value of competition between different forms of transportation, the need to reduce regulatory control (which led to the establishment of the Canadian Transport Commission, now the CANADIAN TRANSPORTATION AGENCY, as the one overseeing agency), and payment of reasonable charges by transportation operators for facilities provided by government, reflected the commission's influence.