allow separate Catholic schools to be re-established. However, religious instruction (Catholic education) would take place for 30 minutes at the end of each day, if requested by the parents of 10 children in rural areas or 25 in urban areas. Catholic teachers were allowed to be hired in the schools as long as there were at least 40 Catholic students in urban areas or 25 Catholic students in rural areas, and teachers could speak in French (or any other minority language) as long as there were enough Francophone students. This was seen by many as the best possible solution in the circumstances, however, some French Canadians criticized this move as it was done on an individual basis, and did not protect Catholic or French rights in all schools. Laurier called his effort to lessen the tinder in this issue "sunny ways" (). Railway construction Laurier's government introduced and initiated the idea of constructing a second transcontinental railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The first transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, had limitations and was not able to meet everyone's needs. In the West, the railway was not able to transport everything produced by farmers and in the East, the railway did not reach into Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec. Laurier was in favour of a transcontinental line built entirely on Canadian land by private enterprise. Laurier's government also constructed a third railway: the National Transcontinental Railway. It was made to provide Western Canada with direct rail connection to the Atlantic ports and to open up and develop Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec. Laurier believed that competition between the three railways would force one of the three, the Canadian Pacific Railway, to lower freight rates and thus please Western shippers who would contribute to the competition between the railways. Laurier initially reached out to Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian Northern Railway to build the National Transcontinental railway, but after disagreements emerged between the two companies, Laurier's government opted to build part of the railway itself. However, Laurier's government soon struck a deal with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company (subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway Company) to build the western section (from Winnipeg to the Pacific Ocean) while the government would build the eastern section (from Winnipeg to Moncton). Once completed, Laurier's government would hand over the railway to the company for operation. Laurier's government gained criticism from the public due