ONTC Transformation - Real or political spin?

As the ONTC transformation starts to drag on, reminiscent of the Ring of Fire, or Northern Growth Plan, one begins to wonder if there will be anything left to transform.  Sales revenue for ONTC has been decimated from $114M as of Mar 2011 to  $63M as of Mar 2014, and if MNDM had the courage to post the Mar 2015 numbers, I'm sure that would have fallen further still.

Regardless of how efficient the organization becomes, if a company cannot bring sufficient revenue in the door to justify their capital cost, it will fail.  ONTC has been a political football for MNDM for over 20 years and the constant political interference has eroded the foundation built up over a century.

The current situation of a mishandled lockout, is indicative of how the constant attacks have worn away at the labour/management relationship.  Instead of trying to repair that relationship, MNDM has addressed ONTC like a political exercise designed to "spin" Northern Ontario into believing they are supporting the region.

If we look back at recent history to gain understanding of how that relationship came to be, one becomes skeptical of the MNDM commitment to Northern Ontario.  In 2003, the Liberals got elected along with a promise to develop ONTC and for a short time they did make an effort.  That effort did not include much to bolster ridership on the Northlander though, and by 2012 MNDM did away with any pretense of development and announced they were going to liquidate the company and discontinue Northlander service. (The actual announcement appears to have been deleted from the ON Newsroom website, but there are enough references available that we are certain it still happened)

This abrupt change in direction was done without consultation, without prior notification to the union and not even much warning to then CEO Paul Goulet.  Some of the claims made to justify the divestment decision were later proven to be false, and were partly why the government had to later back down on parts of the decision.

• ONTC Subsidy $100M and expected to rise 

      (Actual numbers fm ONTC Annual Reports)

          2010 - 28.0M

          2011 - 43.6M

          2012 - 75.7M

          2013 - 48.7M  (Psgr funding down 6M due to Northlander cut)

          2014 - 29.9M

• This is not a firesale

         Ontera had $41M in assets and was sold for $6M incurring a $61M loss for          ONTC

• Ridership is stagnant

            (Numbers from FOI request)

                2009 - 31,494

                2010 - 33,741

                2011 - 39,579

                2012 - 29,751 (Cut off in Sept)

          Very different government position re Union Pearson Express

• Northlander will be replaced with enhanced bus service

             The only enhancement to bus service in the North was as a result of a                improvement ordered by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.                      MNDM response was to insist ONTC operate buses on a break-even                    basis, forcing ONTC to close stations and reduce runs in the North.

        No transit system in North America operates on a break-even basis....not           even GO Transit  

Now....with this history of deception and political spin, unions at ONTC are asked to accept concessions beyond industry norms to support MNDM before they will expand and develop ONTC.

I would think MNDM would need to demonstrate good faith in a tangible way, before workers could believe them.  The current lockout only makes the prospect of co-operation more difficult and further jeopardizes the very existence of the business.  

MNDM should sign an agreement that matches the pattern already set by other unions and get on with the business of building up ONTC.  The North cannot withstand much more MNDM "development".