ONTC Transformation - Moving Forward to Sustainability

If there is one word that has become attached to ONTC in the past few years, it has to be "sustainable".  Even Minister Gravelle has recognized the word has been bandied about so much, its overuse has to be acknowledged, but still there are no details about how we will know when the corporation has reached that state.

The best we can do at this point is try to guess what the government means by "sustainable"  One of the word's synonyms, defendable, might give us a clue.  Defendable is defined by Merriram-Webster as "to maintain or support in the face of argument or hostile criticism <defend a theory>"

ONTC has long faced hostile criticism, as the Standing Committee on Government Agencies reveals, in these two reviews from 1992 and 1996.  The more lucrative lines of the corporation have long been the target of the private sector. Their arguments were, government should not be in business and ONTC is inefficient and the fact that there is a subsidy required, proves that.

The other fact brought to light by reading these reviews, is the amount of time and effort on the part of Ontario Northland required to justify their operations and educate their political masters.  One has a hard time imagining Hunter Harrison patiently responding to all the concerns from various political constituents and given voice by MPP's.  The requirement for ONTC to be just as efficient as the private sector runs counter to its mandate and is best explained in this Letter to the Editor written by a former member of ONTC management.  

That is not to say Ontario Northland does not need to change in order to reach sustainability.  The government may need to give the company more autonomy and hold it accountable to realistic targets, but the new Commission must ensure management delivers on its responsibilities.  Industry benchmarking, with clearly supported deviations from the norm, must define operational activities that are required by virtue of being a crown agency.

The government will still be able to impose political restrictions on Ontario Northland, such as the current one in Motor Coach that prevents unlimited pursuit of charter work, but the financial implications must be taken into account when the inevitable criticism comes later regarding an inefficient operation.

Sustainability may depend more on the governments ability to understand the operation and the value of Ontario Northland to the region and use that to prevent any further erosion of the corporation.  The reality of operating in a low volume market led to the combination of different business lines with a centralized administration.  Each cut to the ONTC family weakens the structure and attacks the very premise that enabled them to gain efficiencies in those markets.

Star Transfer, NorOntair and now Ontera, may well be able to have their services continued by the private sector, but regardless of the debate about who provided better service, the fact remains, they contributed to the success of Ontario Northland.  Economic development is very difficult to stimulate, but ONTC has been doing it in a sustainable way for over a century.