It may be 54% CDN owned, but there's a bunch of Americans now calling ALL the shots. You won't find anyone in the boardroom who knows how to pronounce "Heron" correctly, or who knows from fried baloney in his yellow pea soup. The only Canadian practice which has followed through from the final days before privatization is the way they hold people's jobs over their heads, unless they move to or travel to wherever they're needed.
To be perfectly honest, I'm still TOTALLY PISSED with Ottawa that CN isn't a Crown Corporation any longer. It was formed to serve the people inexpensively. American business practices don't even remotely relate to holding together a large country with a spread-out population. This folly of selling off Canadian National was anything but in the best interest of the Canadian people.
CRIPES!