"The project for a new transcontinental railway made the year 1903 industrially significant. The scheme when finally presented to Parliament by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, on July 31st, provided for the building of a new line from Moncton, New Brunswick, through Quebec to Winnipeg and the Pacific Coast at a terminus then not fixed, but now known to be Prince Rupert. The road is to be divided into two parts; the Eastern from Moncton to Winnipeg, which is to be built by the Government, and the Western from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, to be built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company. Provision was made for a lease of the Eastern section by the company and its purchase after fifty years. This company is practically the same as the Grand Trunk Railway Company. Sir Wilfrid estimated the cost at $13,000,000. There were provisions for Government assistance in the guaranteeing of the bonds of the new company." _F. B. Tracy, Tercentenary History of Canada, Volume 3, page 1034 (Macmillan Company, New York, 1908)._ At the half yearly meeting of the Grand Trunk Company in London, October 21, 1909, the President, Sir C. Rivers Wilson, who had recently returned from Canada, spoke of the present state and prospects of the transcontinental line, partly as follows: "They were, he remarked, under an obligation to complete their road through to Prince Rupert by December 1, 1911, but, owing to the want of labour, he feared there was very little chance of their succeeding in doing so. … They had built through to Winnipeg on the one hand and to Lake Superior on the other, but there remained an unfortunate link of 245 miles to complete their junction with Lake Superior. … After what had happened he was very chary of making any prediction, but he should think that, after all that had taken place, and after the great pressure which was now being put on the contractors, the road would be finished by next summer. Their great object, of course, was to link up the west with their eastern system. That would be done during the summer by the road coming down to Lake Superior, which would enable them to communicate by water with their Georgian Bay port, and during the winter, when navigation was closed, by way of land north of Lake Superior by the line the Government was to build to a place called Cochrane, about 540 miles distant, where they would obtain communication with North Bay and put themselves in contact with their own Ontario road." CANADA: A. D. 1904. General Election. Continuance of the Laurier Ministry. The Earl of Minto succeeded as Governor-General by Earl Grey.