Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act
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The ''Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act'' is an act of the Parliament of Canada. The ''Act'' was enacted in 1988 in response to a long-standing and widespread concern that
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
’s heritage railway stations were not being protected. Bill C-205, ''An Act to protect heritage railway stations'', was proposed by MP Gordon Taylor in a private member's bill which received support of all parties in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
.


Background

The railway was once the backbone of Canada. This changed with the widespread adoption of the automobile. The
Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...
opened in 1962; Highway 2, the congested Main Street in every town in the busy Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, was bypassed by the
401 __NOTOC__ Year 401 ( CDI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus (or, less frequently, year 1154 ' ...
/ 20 freeway in 1968. Passenger train ridership dropped from a
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peak of 60 million to less than 5 million in 1977. Federally owned
Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
provided CN and CP an exit from the long-unprofitable passenger rail business in 1978. The railways retained ownership of tracks, railway stations and freight operations. Less popular routes were gradually cut back. The railways had little incentive to preserve or re-purpose abandoned passenger stations. Municipalities found provincial heritage preservation laws inadequate to protect railway history as interprovincial rail is within federal jurisdiction. CP's West Toronto station, closed when its last passenger train was rerouted in 1978, was unlawfully demolished on November 25, 1982 as one of multiple closed stations demolished in that era, occasionally using similar tactics.


About the Act

Designation of heritage railway stations and specific heritage features is made on the recommendation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada by the minister responsible for Parks Canada. Requests to the Board, in turn, typically originate from local entities such as municipalities and historic preservation groups. The protection of heritage railway stations applies to all railway companies under the ''Canada Transportation Act''. No railway company may in any way alter, demolish, or transfer ownership of a designated heritage railway station without the authorization of the
Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
. There is a process in place through which any proposed changes can be reviewed and approved; public notice must be given to allow objections to be heard. Violations of the ''Act'' are punishable by fines of not less than fifty thousand dollars and not more than one million dollars.


Limitations

Eligibility is limited to stations owned by federally licensed railway companies. A municipally owned station on an active rail line of federal importance (such as the 1856
Napanee railway station Napanee railway station in Napanee, Ontario, Canada is served by Via Rail trains running from Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal. The 1856 limestone railway station is an unstaffed but heated shelter with telephones and washrooms, which opens at leas ...
) therefore would not qualify regardless of historic notability or age. The protection ends when a historic station is sold. The ''Act'' only protects railway stations; it does not extend to other historic railway structures, such as roundhouses. The legislation also does nothing to require a railway to maintain a property to Heritage Canada guidelines or repair any damage, even as the structure declines to the point of violating municipal standards. By inaction, a railway can leave a historic structure in ruins.
Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...
mayor Mark Gerretsen has denounced this situation as a "loophole" as an 1856
Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...
station in that city is designated as being historic but "when CN lost its Crown corporation status they put in legislation that says if the building is ever sold the normal heritage act kicks in. Until it is sold, CN is not required to maintain it."


See also

*
List of designated heritage railway stations of Canada This is a list of railway stations in Canada which have been designated under the ''Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act''. The names given for stations are taken from the Directory of Designated Heritage Railway Stations maintained by the ...
, for a list of stations which are or were protected under the act * '' Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act'', a federal act to designate and preserve historically significant Canadian lighthouses.


References

{{reflist


External links


''Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act'' (R.S.C., 1985, c. 52 (4th Supp.))
Canadian federal legislation Canadian historic preservation legislation 1988 in Canadian law