Tuesday, June 30, 2009

They’ve been working on the railroad, all the live long day...


There are no tracks; there are no trains, just lots of pay!
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You may not have seen a BC Rail engine on your tracks in a long, long time but down in North Vancouver the days are still long and productive it seems. At least that’s the impression one would receive according to the public payroll compensation list released yesterday by the Provincial government.

From that list comes an interesting revelation when it comes to the railway that once was the economic engine of northeastern BC and now is part of the Canadian National empire.

Under the Crown Corporations and Agencies section of the salary listings, we find four senior executives of the railroad still on the public payroll, this despite the fact that we don’t actually own a railroad anymore.

Kevin Mahoney, President and CEO of the railroad was paid $494,182 last year, John Lusney, the President of BC Rail properties took in $268.572, Gordon Westlake VP in Corporate Affairs made $232.999 and Linda Shute VP in Finance and the CFO of the organization managed to squeak by with $213,412.

One might wonder what the four must do with their days, what with CN running the railroad under that much discussed and now controversial agreement of a few years ago.

Perhaps there are some loose ends to tie up during the course of a work day, old railway ties to count, selling off BC Rail caps in the company store, fishing off of railway trestles up to Prince George and back.

Or maybe they just pull into work, head to the coffee room and tell some tall tales of the old days when the trains ran on time and normally on the tracks.

One thing that they will have to adjust to however are a few new edicts passed last April.

On April 2nd, the Board of Directors decided to discontinue the Discretionary Allowance, the Lunch Club Membership Policy and the Golf Membership Policy.

Leaving the foursome still in the upper reaches of the corporate caboose to make their own lunch and golf arrangements, which we imagine at least probably gives them something to do during the day.

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