Collection search - John Joseph Pope fonds [textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
John Joseph Pope fonds [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1949-1997.

Reference:

R3956-0-7-E

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

162469

Context of this record:

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John Joseph Pope fonds
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Record information – Details

Fonds includes:

4 lower level description(s)
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Date(s):

1949-1997.

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

4.5 m of textual records.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of legal records of the court cases Wotherspoon et al. (on behalf of the Eaton Retirement Annuity Fund) v. Canadian Pacific Ltd. et al, and Pope et al. v. Canadian Pacific Ltd. et al. The records document Pope's battle against the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) over the abandonment and sale of property belonging to the Ontario and Quebec Railway (O&Q). The fonds contains copies of legal records produced by the courts, reference files used to develop the case, and additional files on other CPR subsidiary companies in which Pope took an active interest.

The legal battle centered around the fate of the O&Q Railway. It was incorporated in 1871 with the power to construct a line between Ottawa and Toronto via Peterborough. In 1884 the entire railway was leased to the Canadian Pacific Railway in perpetuity. The lease entitled the CPR to "all the franchises and powers" of the O&Q. However approval was required from the O&Q's Board of Directors for the sale or purchase of property. The lease was to terminate if the CPR failed to operate the railroad.

Until 1973 the O&Q was run as a subsidiary of the CPR with CPR personnel forming the O&Q's Board of Directors. The CPR treated the O&Q's property as its own, selling land without the O&Q's Board's permission. Some of this property was disposed of to CPR's subsidiary Marathon Realty Ltd. In 1967 the CPR realized that it could not dispose of O&Q lands except by a sublease for a term short of perpetuity. This arrangement was not acceptable to Marathon's bankers. In 1973 the CPR and Marathon agreed to let Marathon take over the CPR's lease since it pertained to the property the railway wished to transfer to its real estate subsidiary. This required approval of the O&Q's shareholders. At the same time the CPR reformed the O&Q Board of Directors by arranging for the appointment of an independent board. The CPR had realized that the previous O&Q Boards of Directors had been operating in a conflict of interest. By 1973 the CPR had also ceased, with the approval of the Canadian Transport Commission, the operation of a portion of the O&Q's mainline between Montreal and Toronto in contravention of the lease.

At the subsequent shareholders' meeting some of the minority shareholders objected to the legality of the proceedings but the arrangement with Marathon Realty was endorsed. Although argued on technicalities, the substantive question at issue was whether or not the CPR and Marathon had entered into a sweetheart deal and had defrauded the O&Q The subsequent case was argued by some of the most prominent legal counsel in Canada, including John Sopinka for Pope and J. J. Robinette for the O&Q's board of directors. The minority shareholders of the O&Q (including John Joseph Pope and the trustees of the Eaton Retirement Annuity Plan) won in the Ontario High Court. However, upon appeal the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled in favour of the CPR.

Provenance:

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Pope, Joseph, 1921-

Biography/Administrative history:

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Pope, Joseph, 1921- : John Joseph Pope was born in Gistoux, Belgium 27 July 1921, the son of Countess Simonne Marie du Monceau (de Bergendal) and General Maurice Pope (and the grandson of Sir Joseph Pope). The younger Pope was educated in Quebec, England and Ottawa, where he graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1939. He joined the Bank of Montreal shortly after his graduation, and subsequently served with the Royal Canadian Airforce in the Second World War as a regimental officer. In 1953 he married Claudine de Lannoy, with whom he had seven children.

Pope is the proprietor of Brabant Holdings, the managing partner of Scrooge & Marley, and he remains active in several other real estate holding companies and investment firms. Until 1996 he was a partner and former president of Pope and Co., investment bankers. He is a former director of the Quebec Central Railway, and a former member of the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, and the Toronto Bond Traders Association. Pope is also a collector of medieval manuscripts. He was awarded a Doctorate of Literature by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies in 1993.

Finding aid:

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Textual records: (Paper) The finding aid is a file list. MSS2218

Textual records: (Electronic) Finding aid. MSS2218
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000721.pdf

Additional information:

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Arrangement note:

Most legal records in the fonds apply to both court cases Wotherspoon v. CPR and Pope v. CPR, which were often heard together in court. However, several records were submitted with specific reference to one case or the other. These are identified in the finding aid by the case to which they belong.

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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2000-00206-4
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Conditions of access:

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Access restriction document

http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/r000000983.pdf

Textual records

[Consultation18 Restricted]

Finding aid box [FA 2218] 509

[Consultation 10 Closed]

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Date modified:: 2024-07-24