Royal Commission on Railways

Royal Commission to Inquire Into the Advisability of Constituting a Court of Railway Commissioners

Outcome	Report of the Royal Commission on Railways
Commissioners	Alexander Tilloch Galt (Chair) Collingwood Schreiber George Moberley Egerton Ryerson Burpee Thomas Edward Kenny
Inquiry period	14 August 1886 (1886-08-14) – 1888 (1888)

The Royal Commission on Railways was a royal commission established in 1886 to address issues affecting rail commerce in Canada. The Commission was chaired by Alexander Galt and released its final report in 1887.

It was initiated by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to resolve disputes between shippers who felt the large railway companies were charging unfair rates and the railways who wanted to avoid regulations that could reduce their profits. A bill to create a railway commission to control rates had failed in Parliament and the commission was launched to find a solution to the problem.

The findings of the Royal Commission became the basis of the Railways Act of 1888. The act outlawed some of the pricing practices that most offended shippers but did not create a board to control prices.

References

• Ken Cruikshank (31 October 1991). Close Ties: Railways, Government, and the Board of Railway Commissioners, 1851-1933. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 54–. ISBN 978-0-7735-6304-9.

Further reading

• Galt, A.T. (1888). Report of the Royal Commission on Railways : with appendices (Report). Ottawa: Privy Council Office.