Page "Canadian National Railway" Paragraph 32

The CN Commercialization Act was enacted into law on July 13, 1995, and by November 28, 1995, the federal government had completed an initial public offering ( IPO ) and transferred all of its shares to private investors.

Two key prohibitions in this legislation include, 1 ) that no individual or corporate shareholder may own more than 15 % of CN, and 2 ) that the company's headquarters must remain in Montreal, thus maintaining CN as a Canadian corporation.