saint john was cut off by the confederation promise of an intercolonial railway. e b chandler, of new brunswick's north shore, saw to it that the rail line went from ice-bound montreal along the st. lawrence and down the north shore of new brunswick bringing new brunswick no benefit except at moncton. from there the distance to halifax and saint john were about equal. so even though saint john was half as far from montreal as halifax, the new federal policy helped halifax outpace saint john as the winter port for canada. when the st. lawrence opened in the 1950s, yet another federal government policy killed the port of saint john. eventually a rail line was built from saint john through maine usa to montreal. however, montreal businessmen preferred portland usa even though the saint john river valley, with no rail line, was a shorter route from quebec. so canadian prairie wheat was shipped four months of the year through the port of portland, maine, usa. saint john has dwindled from being the fifth-largest city in canada at confederation to the fourth largest city in atlantic canada now and 32nd largest city in canada.