With Macoun's assessment in hand, the Canadian government undertook an advertising campaign to encourage European immigration to western Canada, which was joined by the distribution of 160-acre tracts of farmland for a token fee of ten dollars under the Dominion Lands Act. In addition, the planned Canadian Pacific Railway was moved southwards from its original route through the Parklands to instead pass through Palliser's Triangle for the sake of facilitating homesteading and grain shipment, thus further encouraging settlement in the region. Were it not for this fact, it is very likely that cities such as Calgary, Brandon and Regina would not exist as they do today.