(The Canadian Press circulated the following story by Allan Swift on April 15.)
MONTREAL — Paul Cote, Via Rail’s new chief executive, says the national railway passenger service can improve itself without massive new injections of government funding.
Cote intends to focus on customer service and innovation, and predicts public support and ridership will follow.
“People will support an organization that delivers quality and value for money,” Cote said Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“I believe very strongly in the fact that growth does not necessarily come with investment. I think we can do more and better things with what we have.”
The Crown corporation gets annual operating and capital subsidies. It has not yet released 2004 results but in 2003 its federal support was $263 million while operating revenues were $250 million.
Striving for more visibility for Via Rail was one reason Cote’s predecessor, Marc LeFrancois, got into trouble and was fired in March 2004 after the Auditor General’s report on Via’s involvement in the murky sponsorship scandal in which millions of dollars are said to have been diverted to Liberal-friendly ad firms.
Cote, who at the time was Via’s chief operating officer, added the CEO role on an interim basis, and this appointment was confirmed last month with a five-year term.
The abrupt dismissal of LeFrancois and Via chairman Jean Pelletier did not make things easy for Cote, who has spent his career at Via and before that with Canadian National’s passenger service.
He said one of his first jobs as interim CEO was to prevent managers and employees from being distracted by the scandal.
“We went out and met people in the field face to face and discussed with them the issue,” he said.
“We said we have a job to do; the most important thing to do at this point in time is not to be distracted, to keep the focus and provide quality service to the customers.”
Cote said ridership increased “in the single digits” in percentage terms over 2003, a year marred by reduced travel due to factors including the SARS outbreak.
He said Transport Minister Jean Lapierre has called on Via to submit long-term goals as soon as a new chairman is appointed, and the minister has sent positive signals to the rail service even though Lapierre is not considered a train buff like his predecessor, David Collenette.
“I think we are getting attention and consideration from the minister,” Cote said. “He said no more studies; he’s asked us to present alternatives.”