15 November 2008
CPR's Holiday Train Chugs Through Cost-Cutting Crunch
For Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., it's all aboard the Holiday
Train.
Calgary-based CPR's efficiency drive led to its decision earlier this week to slash capital spending next year by 20
percent, but the freight carrier's cost-cutting measures won't extend to cancelling its annual charity event to collect
donations for food banks.
Since launching in 1999, the Holiday Train program has garnered 800 tonnes of food and nearly $3.6-million for food banks
in the Canadian and U.S. villages, towns, and cities that the train passes through.
"It would be an inappropriate time for us to trim back on something that is so important to the communities, and more
importantly, those people who benefit from the food banks," CPR chief executive officer Fred Green said in an interview yesterday.
More than 70 Canadian communities are stops along the Holiday Train's tour, which starts 29 Nov 2008 in Montreal and
makes its final stop 18 Dec 2008 in Port Moody, B.C. A second train visits more than 40 U.S. communities.
At each event, CPR said it "provides the train, a boxcar stage, a lineup of great Canadian music talent, and a corporate
contribution to the local food bank."
People in each community, in turn, are asked to donate money or food. "The small towns count on us. We sometimes represent half
of the food bank donations that they get in a year, on the one night when we come through town," Mr. Green said.
CPR, like other corporations during the global financial crisis, is facing pressure on many fronts, including reviewing ties to
charities, he said. "Everything's crossed my mind" during CPR's productivity campaign titled Execution Excellence for
Efficiency, Mr. Green said, but the brightly decorated trains had to be protected. "This is our 10th year and we just thought it
only appropriate, despite the difficult times that we face as a company and our shareholders face."
CP fell $5.42 to $42.21.
|
