Ontario Northland president: "We want to move away from entitlement"

CorinaMoore says the company is bleeding.

The interim president of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission gave a stark warning to municipal leaders gathered in Sudbury this week for the Northern Ontario Federation of Municipalities conference.

"That highlights crisis situation for the agency," said Moore.

She said it has reached a pivotal point where Ontario Northlandcan't continue to lose money if it expects to exist in the future.

Moore admittedthe future will be challenging because the company hasn't seen much change in 113 years.

"We want to move away from entitlement. We want to move away from the fact that we deserve things becausewe're Ontario Northland. We are here to say that, starting now, we are focused on performance-based thinkingand the way we do things. It's a culture shift and it's a tough one."

The majority of northern Ontario leaders support the transportation company, but they have different ideas about what its future should look like.

TimminsMayor Steve Black believes the future is to have the crown corporation serve the Ring of Fire.

"Then it would give the ONTC a much better footing going forward to be able to be sustainable and be something that the government doesn't have to look at the cost of on a routine basis," he said.

In response,Moore saidthe company can't dive into the Ring of Fire right now,because it's just trying to stay afloat.

"The best thing Ontario Northland could do at this point and I think it actually aligns probably with the time frame for the Ring of Fire is anyways, is for Ontario Northland to get our house in order," Moore said.

She saidthe company will release a plan detailing a major transformation within the next six months.

Moore saidOntario Northlandis expected to break even in its motor coach business, as well as theremanufacturing and repair divisions.She saidit'll continue to provide freight rail services and the Polar Bear Express passenger line,with a provincial subsidy.