Morning! Everyone's quiet. Morning. Perfect. Good morning, Scott MacDonald. I'm the Senior Vice President of Operations here at Canadian Pacific. At CP, safety is extremely important, so if you bear with me for a few minutes as we go through our safety procedures and protocols. First off, if we have a medical emergency, all of the CP police officers in the room here are first aid qualified, so they'll be our first responders. As well, they will phone and direct, EMS services here to the building. If we have to evacuate for any reason, we'll take direction over the public address system. If they do ask us to evacuate, we'll go through the doors directly behind you. There's three exit doors, and we'll muster in the parking lot, which is just adjacent to the building here.
If there's any need for restroom facilities, there are new restrooms just down the hallway on your right-hand side, both men's and ladies'. And two final items. As you walked into this beautiful building, it is still an active railway facility, so there are railway tracks underneath your feet, covered by plywood and red carpet, obviously. But please watch your footing as you move around the room. And then lastly, if you could put your cell phones on mute or vibrate for the AGM. Once again, welcome, and if I could ask our chairman, Mr. Andy Reardon, to come to the podium. Thank you.
Thank you, Scott, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andrew Reardon. I'm Chairman of the Board of Directors of Canadian Pacific. It's my pleasure to welcome you here today to the annual meeting of shareholders of Canadian Pacific Railway Limited here in Calgary. It is the 136th annual general meeting of Canadian Pacific. I also wish to welcome all of those who are listening to this meeting this morning via the webcast. With me on the platform today is Keith Creel, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jeffrey Ellis, our Corporate Secretary and Chief Legal Officer. I will act as chairman of the meeting, and Jeff Ellis will act as secretary. I hereby appoint Mark Thompson and Phillip Munday of Computershare Investor Services to act as scrutineers for today's meeting.
The secretary has deposited with me a statutory declaration establishing the sending of notice of the time and place of this meeting to each shareholder entitled to vote, each director, and to the auditors of Canadian Pacific, as required by law. The scrutineers have confirmed that the quorum is present. Scrutineers' final report will be kept with the records of this meeting. I declare that the meeting has been regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. However, before we commence the formal business of today's meeting, I would like to share with you a few thoughts, both with respect to the past year of 2017, as well as some recent developments. 2017 was an extraordinary year for both Canadian Pacific Railway and for the great nation of Canada.
As many of us gathered in that year, last summer in particular, to celebrate the 150th anniversary, we were mindful that without the shared journey of Canadian Pacific and the Confederation of Canada, the Confederation of Canada would not exist, in all probability, as we know it today. The joining of this magnificent country didn't happen merely by a legislative fiat or political will, although both of those elements were present. The creation of the railway and the resulting confederation were achieved by the courageous, passionate leadership of William Van Horne's talented team. Had such a challenge been addressed by a group, a lesser group, perhaps, that was more risk-averse, perhaps the Canadian Pacific Railway would have been now nothing more than a dustbin. Yeah, footnote in the dustbin of history.
However, tied with the history of Canada itself, the Confederacy became not just a dream, but a reality. Van Horne, together with the business team that selected him, were astute risk takers, and so the scope of their achievement, like this nation, one of enormity and grandeur. But like all successful enterprises in capitalism, Canadian Pacific was not only initiated by, but also sustained by, and continues to be sustained by astute risk takers, you, our shareholders. As we also know in capitalism, investment risk must be justified by returns and sustained growth. It is that growth, of course, which has the attendant benefits of employment and which supports the dynamic vibrance of the economy of this great nation. The fact of that risk underscores another fact, and that is that every dollar that exists on this continent has, as its sole origin, risk.
Somewhere, somehow, a person or a group of persons or institutions have undertaken a risk to support a capitalistic venture. Canadian Pacific is your company, your investment risk. You own us. As stewards of your investment risk, our board is responsible for the growth of your investment. Thus, our practice of engaging with you, our shareholders, listening to your concerns, and responding to your questions of all varieties will continue. One year ago from this lectern, you were promised a smooth, an orderly transition with the commencement of the term of Keith Creel as our Chief Executive Officer just a few months prior. Today, I am pleased to address the tangible effects of that transition, and they are quite substantial. Earnings per share growth of 11%, an operating ratio of 58.2%, and volume and revenue growth of 5%.
The list goes on and on, and as I say, it's quite impressive. However, perhaps more importantly than those specific results, at the core of them, the effectiveness of those results, is the sustained effectiveness of this management team, which Keith Creel has created. I submit that this is the most effective management team in all of North American railroads. There's no secret to the financial and operating success of this company: Precision Scheduled Railroading. It is the disciplined approach that does not reside in the operating department alone, but transcends every department, executed under the passionate leadership of Keith Creel. Precision Scheduled Railroading provides shippers with reliable, superior service for which they are willing to pay, advanced by the new but experienced marketing team, who understand how to sell that service, and it works in any economy.
Pairing that discipline with CP's franchise, which extends across Canada and reaches deep into the U.S. heartland, firmly establishes the basis, sustained compound growth. Most importantly, I'm also pleased to note that for the twelfth consecutive year, CP posted the lowest accident rate of any North American railroad in 2017. The railway environment is demanding, and maintaining that impressive safety record requires constant vigilance and unwavering dedication to understanding and following complex operating rules.
I speak for the entire board and for this management team in expressing our sincere appreciation and admiration for the ongoing efforts that lead to these remarkable safety results. In the environmental arena, CP has also demonstrated continuous improvement. By means of operational efficiencies and the use of more technologically advanced locomotives, CP reduced greenhouse gas emissions approximately by 18% between 2012 and 2016.
Further strides have been made in the area of diversity, starting with our board. Our board of directors now has 44% women, and of those, four women who are on our board, three of them serve as chairs for our various committees within the board structure. This diversity will continue through our senior management ranks and beyond. Our board, though quite stable, has also experienced change in 2017. Hunter Harrison, as we know, resigned, retired from the board January 31st, 2017, and unfortunately passed away late last year. Hunter's contributions to this enterprise have become and will remain an indelible part, history of this enterprise. Steve Tobias, who served as a director during a critical period, from 2012 until his resignation for health reasons in mid 2015, also passed away in 2017.
Bill Fatt, the Chair of our Finance Committee, resigned in the fall of 2017, also for health reasons. Indeed, we all regret Hunter Harrison's passing and Steve Tobias's passing, and Bill Fatt's leaving our board. Their contributions to this board were invaluable. But, you know, as we reflect upon the contributions and the lasting achievements of these distinct individuals, as well as the current achievements of this present team, an inescapable conclusion arrives. That is, like the nation itself, CP's past is colorful, rich with stories, but the best is yet to come. So now, on to the formal part of our meeting. Please note that after the formal business of the meeting is concluded and the meeting is terminated, Keith Creel will present his formal address to the shareholders, after which he will take questions relating to CP's operations.
To expedite matters, a number of shareholders or proxy holders have agreed to propose and second motions with respect to the business of this meeting. While this will help speed the handling of the formal matters, it should not discourage any shareholder or proxyholder from speaking specifically to any motion after it has been proposed and seconded, or from raising specific questions or comments properly within the scope of this meeting. If you do have such questions or comments, at the proper time, please proceed to one of the microphones in the aisle, identify yourself, and advise whether or not you are a shareholder or a proxyholder. Please keep your comments brief, as we have limited amount of time, and also ask only one question at a time.
Shareholders who do not wish to address the meeting, but would like to submit a question, may do so using the ballot that's on your chair, and submit that to an employee as you leave the building, and management will get back to you as soon as they possibly can in response to your question or comment. There are three matters set out in the notice of this meeting to be voted on by the shareholders. We will conduct all substantive items of business by way of a single ballot. If you are a registered shareholder or proxy holder, and you have advised that you wish to vote in person at this meeting, you should have received your ballot when you registered for the meeting. If you completed and returned your form of proxy or voting instruction form, it is not necessary for you to vote today.
However, if you wish to change your vote, you may do so in writing, in person, at this meeting by submitting the written ballot. Anyone wishing to vote at this meeting who does not have a ballot, kindly raise your hand, and you will be provided a ballot. I will pause for a moment to see if we have shareholders or proxy holders who would like to have a question, comment, or change their vote. I request that the secretary provide instructions in respect of completing the ballot. Secretary?
Each shareholder or proxy holder may use the ballot provided to vote on all matters at this meeting. In particular, the appointment of an auditor by placing a mark beside either for or withhold. Second, CP's approach to executive compensation, commonly known as say on pay, by placing a mark beside either for or against. And third, the election of directors by placing a mark opposite the names of the nominees for whom they wish to vote. The ballot should be clearly signed. If you are a shareholder or proxy holder, and the space for your name has not been pre-completed, please print your name on the ballot. Ballots will be collected later in the meeting after all matters have been voted on.
Thank you, Jeff. The first step in today's meeting is the receipt of the consolidated financial statements, as included in the 2017 annual report to shareholders. A copy of the annual report has been made available to the shareholders in either hard copy or electronically. I now place before the meeting the consolidated financial statements and report of the auditor thereon for the year ended December 31, 2017. Secretary? The first item of business is the appointment of an auditor. Max Duguay, may I have a motion?
I move that Deloitte LLP be appointed auditor of Canadian Pacific to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders.
Mr. Chairman, my name is Yisha Pang, and I second the motion.
Is there any discussion on the motion? I declare the polls open for the vote on the appointment of an auditor. The next item of business is a non-binding advisory vote to approve compensation of the corporation's named executive officers, commonly known as Say on Pay. Scott [Cedrin], may I have a motion?
I move that on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the board of directors, that the shareholders accept the company's approach to the compensation of the named executives of Canadian Pacific, as disclosed in the company's proxy circular, delivered prior to this 2018 annual meeting of shareholders.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Andrew Alfred, and I second the motion.
Is there any discussion on the motion? I declare the polls open for the vote on the advisory vote to approve compensation of the corporation's named executive officers. The next item of business is the election of directors. In accordance with the articles and bylaws of Canadian Pacific, the board of directors has determined that nine directors are to be elected at this meeting. I now declare the meeting open for nominations.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is David Garrett, and I nominate the following nine Canadian Pacific director nominees: the Honorable John Baird, Isabelle Courville, Keith Creel, Gillian Denham, Rebecca MacDonald, Matthew Paull, Jane Peverett, Andrew Reardon, and Gordon Trafton.
Thank you. I advise that no further nominees have been nominated pursuant to the provisions of CP's bylaws. Therefore, I now declare nominations closed. Maria Barkovich, may I have a motion?
I move that the persons nominated be elected directors of Canadian Pacific, each to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders or until such person's successor is elected or appointed.
Mr. Chairman, my name is Dan Gillick, and I'll second that motion.
Is there any discussion on the motion? I declare the polls open for the vote on the election of directors. We will now pause so that the scrutineers can collect the ballots. If you have a ballot, kindly raise it so that it can be seen by the scrutineers, and the scrutineers will recognize you. Will the scrutineers now please collect ballots? I hereby declare that the polls have closed with respect to all items of business. Now, the scrutineers have already provided a preliminary report based on the proxies received prior to today's meeting. I call on the secretary to report on the preliminary results of those votes. I note that the company will also report the detailed final voting, including those votes submitted in person by ballot following this meeting, once the tabulation is complete. Secretary?
Deloitte LLP has been reappointed auditor of Canadian Pacific with 99.7% of the votes in favor of their appointment. The Say on Pay vote received 70.1% of the votes cast in favor of the resolution. Each of the nine nominees has been elected as a director of Canadian Pacific, with greater than 92.8% of votes in favor of their election.
I adopt the preliminary report of the scrutineers and declare the nine director nominees duly elected directors of Canadian Pacific, and each of the other matters of business passed. I direct that the scrutineers report be annexed to the minutes of this meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, your duly elected directors of Canadian Pacific are the following, and I ask each of them to stand as their name is called. I also ask that you withhold applause until all of their names have been called. First, the Honorable Dr. John Baird. Isabelle Courville. Keith Creel. Gillian Denham. Rebecca MacDonald. Matthew Paull. Jane Peverett. Myself, Andrew Reardon. Gordon Trafton.
Your duly elected directors of Canadian Pacific Railway. I must tell you on a personal note, I am honored to be serving with them on this board. As there is no other business that may be properly brought before this meeting, this concludes the formal business of the meeting, but I wish to thank all of you for attending, and I now declare the meeting terminated. Keith, you have the podium.
Thank you, Chairman. I already started to say, I now declare you terminated, but thank goodness. Good morning, shareholders, fellow railroaders, board members, and of course, Dr. Baird. I can tell you as well, I'm honored and humbled to stand here today. It's my second AGM to serve as your CEO. I want to thank each of you for your continuing vote of trust in me, in our leadership team, 12,000 strong CP family, many of which are able to join us here today. I can tell you, as a team, we've created some significant success over the last year, since 2017, since we met in this very room. But with that success, as often happens, and unfortunately, challenges will occur, we had some major disappointments as well. None any greater than the loss of life.
Unfortunately, two tragic accidents, two employees have lost their lives since we met last year. One in Montreal, St-Luc Yard, back in November, train person, Dimitrios Bakirtzis, fatally injured while performing service at work, and a second, not very long ago in March, in Wisconsin, Mr. Robert Hamling, also a switchman, fatally injured while performing duties at Sparta, Wisconsin. Dimitrios had seven years service with the company. Robert had 14 years of service with the company. Their commitment to this company has never, never been questioned. They'll forever be remembered and honored, never forgotten, given the sacrifices they made and their contributions in service of this company. Out of respect for both these gentlemen, gentlemen, I'd like to ask you to join me for a moment of silence. Thank you.
So as I reflected, preparing my comments and thoughts today, I thought about the last five years before I took over as the CEO. It was five years that reflected the disciplined focus by this team from 2012 to 2016, transforming our operations, rightsizing our assets, setting up a situation where we were set up for success in 2017, so we could reap the benefits of Precision Scheduled Railroading with a clear mandate as the CEO to transition our efforts from rightsizing and restoring to growing as we grow forward. I can tell you our collective efforts in 2017, with an unrelieving, unrelenting commitment to our Precision Scheduled Railroading, were never, never questioned, never faltered.
They were foundational to our success in 2017, and they will always remain foundational to our ability to succeed as we grow into 2018 and beyond. You know, as the 17th leader of this iconic corporation, I stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best team of railroaders in the business, and I'm honored to be furthering the vision of those that led before me, that created the vision and opportunity at CP. Their efforts, as well as ours today, were to connect the nation to the world. Our focus, just as theirs was in the past, is on growth and connecting Canada with new markets. Our operating model and our family of dedicated railroaders that we have in place make that transformational opportunity possible to continue our success, doing just that in 2018 and beyond.
But before looking forward and, and expanding my comments, I want to pause and take a quick moment and look back to honor our 16th CEO. I know Andy mentioned Mr. Hunter Harrison. You know, first and foremost, as a fellow shareholder, and I know shareholders in this room appreciate, we lost a legend last year, a legend that initiated and led and enabled this transformation at CP that began back in 2017. I think history will show, certainly books will be written, time will tell, his test, his commitment to this railroad, I think he'll be known as one of the best railroaders in our industry's history, not just at CP, but in the entire industry. And it's a playbook that we call Precision Scheduled Railroading, which we- he created many railroads ago.
I had the honor and the opportunity to spend two decades learning from, developing and understanding that mandate and becoming an ambassador for the gift that keeps on giving. It's a gift that allows this railway to emulate success, to sustain success as we go forward. You know, Hunter was a mentor to many in this industry. He worked many railroads. He didn't retire too well. We all understand that. So many of us he's touched. Anyone he had an opportunity to work with, he's left a part of him with you. With that being said, his legacy at this company is never going to be questioned.
It's going to carry on, and we're going to honor his memory, we're going to honor him as a human being, and we're going to honor his contributions and commitment to our success at this corporation by continuing to be the best railroaders in the business. So with that said, let's talk about the business. Since 2012, our strategy was to implement this operating model. It's rooted in thought foundations that will never change. They represent the pillars of the foundation of how we do our business, called precision railroading. It's all about providing service, controlling costs, utilize assets. You optimize the assets, you do it safely, and you do it through the people that make it possible.
The last five years has shown how well this model works at CP, restoring, taking us through the downtimes, taking us through the good times, and preparing us for the growth that we're experiencing today. We've leveraged that foundation, and we'll continue to do so in 2018. So in 2017, specifically, as the economy improved, we were in a position to grow volumes in our revenues by 5%. Continue to do that efficiently, driving efficiencies, produce our Adjusted Operating Ratio of 58.2, which is the lowest in this company's history. Our Adjusted EPS grew 11%, outperforming our initial guidance when we started last year, which was high single-digit growth. So simply put, across the board, in almost every measure, 2017 was a record year. What's most important, it set the stage and the momentum for 2018.
So as we move forward into the next chapter of our long-term strategy, our focus is to emphasize that and grow responsibly, without compromising our commitment to operational excellence and our industry-leading safety performance. And that's made possible only by maintaining, keyword, constructive balance, making decisions that benefit our customers, yet at the same time, maximize shareholder returns. And we're in a very unique position in this industry. Fixed the engine at CP. We brought the franchise from industry laggard to industry leader in the last five years, and the strategy is pretty simple as we go forward. First thing, and I tell my team all the time, we've got to realize we can't be everything to everyone. If you try to make everyone happy, you're going to end up disappointing everyone. But what we can do at CP is play to the strengths of this franchise.
We can win in the markets that we operate the best in by leveraging our service offering. Our operating model provides the framework to be able to do that, to allow possibly delivering reliable, low cost, sustainable service. As a direct result of the improved operating performance and our investments we've made during these last 5-6 years, surgically, the last six years specifically, there's tremendous opportunity for growth. We've upgraded our track infrastructure. We've built the groundwork for long, heavier, safe, efficient trains, which in turn, has generated surplus assets across the property. Process is an ongoing one. It's not one that stops. As we invest in capacity in lockstep with our growth. Our capacity in this industry has put us in a truly unique position to grow with our customers over the long term at a controlled, sustainable pace and cost.
As long as we protect our operating philosophy, that's the key ingredient here. That's the foundation. You got to maintain discipline in all areas of your business to be able to sustain this. 2017, in line with that, we made a number of enhancements to our service offering, deliver even more value for our customers while controlling our costs and aligning our resources with demand. We identified the right opportunities to take advantage of our strengths, enabling us to grow at a lower incremental cost. We've given our customers access to our fluid and reliable network, which enjoys, from a franchise strength standpoint, some of the shortest routes to key markets in Canada, connecting Canada to the U.S. and Canada to the world, which is truly the long-term value for CP and our customers.
A couple of specific things I'll share with you that we're really proud of. On the intermodal side, as we've grown the franchise in 2017, and we grow forward into 2018, we realized we needed to improve the international service offering. We implemented this past August and announced and launched the most direct rail transportation service between Vancouver and Detroit. Detroit was a market that we had exited six years ago because we simply couldn't make money in the business. We didn't have good service. It was high cost. It was very unreliable. We redesigned the entire service, and in partnership with Class I in the U.S., we now offer industry best. Our competitor in Montreal can't touch it. Our competitor on the West Coast can't touch it.
CP connects the west side of this continent to the key automotive lanes, automotive facilities, and automotive parts that are coming from overseas. We're honored to take that product into the Detroit market, serve that market 48 hours on average, faster than anybody else can do in this business. That's transformational change. In addition to that, to enable that, we invested in a live lift operation at Portal. Portal is the location where we transfer into the U.S. operation. It's a border control point. Typically, and what's happened in the past, some of our customers' freight has been held up due to customs inspections. We would literally have to break a train apart and potentially leave 10- 11 stranded customers because of one container on a five-pack rail car.
We invested in the ability to do a Live Lift, where we can surgically stop the train and take only the suspect container, allow the balance of the train and the freight to continue forward, which lowers cost and improves service for the customer. That investment was critical to be able to do that. In addition to that, as we try to evolve and grow with technology, we've introduced CP FastPass in all of our intermodal terminals. This is leading-edge technology for the industry. It allows our intermodal terminals to operate more smoothly. It allows the truck drivers, our partners in the business, to deliver our customer service in partnership with us, to have a faster turn time, to have a better, lower cost, more efficient, more reliable service inside of our terminals. The wait times for these drivers have been cut in half.
They literally can come in our gates within a matter of minutes, a matter of minutes, as opposed to 10 or 15 minutes waiting in a line to be able to get in. In Asia, we've extended our reach, putting dots on the map, so to speak, opened an office. Shanghai, myself, and the senior leadership team, Jonathan Wahba and John Brooks, personally went over to shake our customers' hands, to introduce our opportunity, and to expand the knowledge of this franchise. If you look at the book of business that we enjoy, about 30% of it somehow touches Asia, touches the entire Asian market. How can we not be there? So that's an area that we've expanded in, and certainly something that we're proud of and that we've been received well as an opportunity to grow our business.
Ocean Network Express, that's a new company in a lot of ways. Since consolidation in the international space of steamship lines, it's a consortium that came together, formed a new company that went into play April the first. They consist of a prior three steamship, Japanese-oriented companies. Now, all that freight is consolidated. One company actually called Ocean Network Express, no pun intended. We've won 85% of their business. Huge contract for this company. It's a huge win for this company. It demonstrates the power of our service model, the reliability of our service, the value it creates for the customer, playing again on the capacity that we enjoy with our franchise strengths, reaching those markets quicker than anybody else can in a more reliable way.
On the customer experience side, through all this change, we certainly have not gotten it all right with our customers as well as we've right-sized and restored financial strengths within the company. So we've taken an initiative to reach out to our customers, develop stronger, more collaborative relationships. John Brooks and his team, in January this year, we held our first customer advisory panel session in this building, where we had a great opportunity to connect with a wonderful cross-section of our customers from all lines of business. We had 16 of our customers' leaders join us to represent a significant portion of our revenue base. It was a great opportunity not only to talk to the customers, but most importantly, to listen. Session focused on three key areas to enhance the customer experience: technology, communications, and service.
We look forward to building on this momentum as we do these additional meetings and grow for creating long strategic partnerships with those same customers. Our leadership team, that's another area that I'm extremely proud of. You know, last year, with our mandate to growth, we created John's position, promoted him to Chief Marketing Officer with a mandate to build an industry-best team, and he's done exactly that. Jonathan Wahba, VP, Intermodal and Automotive, joined us shortly after John became the CEO or CMO. John, I just promoted you last year. He hit the ground running, and Jonathan has led effectively all of this growth on the intermodal side as well as the automotive side. Jonathan brought more than 10 years of railroad experience, as well as experience running a trucking company post the railroad.
So his knowledge, his depth, and his professionalism is second to none in this industry. We've enhanced that greatly with Coby Bullard. Coby came next. Coby joined us as well, 10 years prior experience with one of our rail partners. He left that rail partner to run a transportation company himself. He's joined the team and brought a wealth of expertise and, and professionalism and knowledge as well to his position as our VP, Sales and Marketing for Merchandise and ECP. And finally, our last addition, which if you understand the industry and understand the impact, convincing Joan Hardy to join this team, the VP of Merch, Bulk and Fertilizer, was a coup for this company. Came from a very, very valued customer, J.R. Richardson. She was VP of Transportation in Winnipeg, and, and there's some history.
I had the honor and the opportunity to work with Joan at the previous railroad back in, I guess, it was the early 2000s, when I was the Vice President of Operations in Winnipeg. I knew the talent, I knew the capacity, I knew the potential. I just didn't know if we'd be able to convince her to join us, but she hit the ground running. She's certainly been well received within this company, and we look and expect to see her not only grow the business, not only help us become better with our customers, providing constructive tension inside to advocate for the customer as well, but also to develop the leadership talent, the untapped potential of the female candidates that exist in this company. They rise to the top and take ever-increasing leadership positions. So with that said, why not?
We've got the best executive team overall in this industry, and I've worked at all of them. I've worked at several railroads. I'm saying that with a voice of experience and a voice of confidence, not a voice of arrogance. Not a voice of being naive at all, we simply do. And I'd like to introduce each of these people that work and represent our shareholders on a daily basis. So what I'd like to do, I'm gonna call your name. You will remain standing, and if I could ask everyone to hold their applause until we finish, as I introduce each of my key team. Robert Johnson, Executive Vice President of Operations. Robert and I have a history as well, dates back over two decades.
We first worked together on my first operating job, and I was a train master for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe back in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I often kid with Robert, he, I spent more nights the first year I was married with Robert, working in a railroad tower than I did my own wife, and not in a weird way. I just learned and respected his knowledge and his capacity and his ability to lead. So when I had a chance to join him or have him join the team, certainly I didn't pass it up, and he's exceeded all of my expectations. Nadeem Velani, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. Nadeem and I, as well, have quite a history in this industry. We've worked together over the last, I guess, now 15 years.
Certainly, I think, bar none, again, I'm a bit biased, but I'm, I'm pretty convinced he is the absolute best Chief Financial Officer this industry has in it. He understands the business, he understands the challenges, he understands the landscape, and he also understands the opportunities, both from CFO perspective as well as the shareholder's perspective, given that's what his background was before he became our Chief Financial Officer. Tony Marquis, he's not here with us. I'm sure that he's listening in. Tony is our Senior Vice President of Operations for the Eastern region, another gentleman that I've got a wealth of experience with, over two decades of railroading. He's a consummate professional, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, and a great leader that runs the Eastern operation, as well as our U.S. operation, headquartered in Toronto. Mark Redd.
Mark Redd has the western part of the property, Senior Vice President, Western Region Operations, and again, as you can imagine, a bit of history. Mark and I used to be assistant superintendents. We competed against each other and partnered with each other in Jackson, Mississippi, back in the 1990s. He was assistant superintendent for the KCS. I was assistant superintendent for the IC. We had some very engaging debates, many nights about interchange with cars and about the way we operated. But again, I developed a level of respect for his knowledge and his expertise, and when we had an opportunity to add him to the team several years ago, I didn't hesitate to do it because I know the talent and the, the depth that he represents. Scott MacDonald. Scott McDonald, I inherited Scott, and I feel honored to have done that.
You know, Scott was with the team, a senior leader at CP prior to our arrival, and, and as I've always said, the cream rises to the top. He's done a phenomenal job leading our engineering and our mechanical group. He's a great coach, he's a great developer, and he's becoming subject matter expert. He's also, since we've joined, he is a certified locomotive engineer as well. So Scott, certainly a valued member of the team. Laird Pitz, Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer. Laird and I, again, about, unfortunately, 2002, had a very tragic accident, a train collision, where as a result of that, Laird helped me connect all the dots, do a proper investigation, and take the right remedial actions at the prior railroad.
Again, I've developed a level of respect and admiration for his knowledge and his skill set that enhances this railroad day in and day out. He's a very unique individual, as an individual, as a railroader. We're honored and we're blessed to have him on the team. Jeff Ellis, Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary. Jeff, his honeymoon's over, but, you know, Jeff and I have developed our relationship since he started with the Canadian Pacific. I had an opportunity, knowing and expecting that I would take this job. I had a great chief legal officer in Paul. I knew that Paul would help me pick one and develop one, but Jeff was my decision, and it's not one I regret. He's been a great member of the team.
Chemistry, he fits well, and he's bringing great guidance, legal advice, as well as personal advice and steady, steady, professional advice to our team. Mike Rediker, Vice President, Chief Information Officer. Mike has joined us since the start of the transformation as well. He joined us from IBM, where he was an executive. Certainly, he has been instrumental in creating what I think is a world-class IT group within this company. Without his leadership, his knowledge, and his vision, that simply would not have happened, given short time frame, given the resources. He does a phenomenal job for us day in and day out. Jonathan Wahba, if you will. VP, Sales and Marketing. I've said a few words about Jonathan.
He earns his paycheck every day representing this company, and he makes me proud and will continue to do that as we go forward. Coby Bullard , similar, I mean, just in his own unique skill set, his own way, he shines in the marketplace, and he's been a phenomenal add to our team. Joan Hardy. I've said a few things about Joan. She'll continue to wow us for decades to come and continue to be a significant impact leader in this company, both with our customers as well as internally. So Joan, again, welcome to the team. Mike Foran, this is a 20-plus-year CP railroader that connects the dots. We've created his job to connect the demand, to connect our resources in lockstep with operations and with marketing.
So he keeps, he keeps us on track from a capacity standpoint to make sure that we stay, as I mentioned, lockstep ahead of our growth and our demand, so that when we commit to our customer, we're gonna grow with them. We have a chance of delivering that commitment and protecting our integrity. James Clements, again, another 20+ year railroader. This is my wealth of knowledge. If I don't know, and there's a lot I don't, I can always trust and depend upon James Clements. He has a unique and broad portfolio in this company, a very strategically minded, very talented, deep in knowledge, deep in experience, and a trusted, trusted colleague. So with that said, that is my CP executive team. We're here to serve. We're honored to serve. This team is gelled. This team works well. This is a team.
We do this for each other, we do this for you. So if I could, I personally want to thank you on behalf of the shareholders. This is not an easy job. We work long hours. We do this from a passion. We do this from a commitment to each other and to our 12,000 strong CP family. So on behalf of the shareholders, thank you. Yeah. Now, again, I add a little bit of humor. I did this on purpose, John. So the last guy we've got down here, we had a customer session, I guess, at NFTA two years ago. John's first as the Chief Marketing Officer. Well, I sit there and he introduces everyone in the room, except for one key person.
He failed to introduce his wife, and I don't know if she's ever forgiven him, so I just wanted to share that with you. I did that just a little bit of humor we have. John Brooks. John Brooks, long-standing railroader. John was a gift when I came to this railway. John was buried in this organization. He was actually doing all the work on the bulk side. He started his railroad career with the UP, and then he was the Chief Marketing Officer, I guess, with the railroad that CP bought, the DM&E, years ago, or correct? And then he sort of got lost in this company. I came, I recognized the talent. He and another gentleman, that has since left the company, ran the marketing function and reported directly to me as the President and COO.
So when I had an opportunity to greet the right leader that understood the story, understood the opportunity, understood me, understood the operating model and the expectations, it was an easy decision, and he has not underperformed. He certainly over-delivered. So John Brooks, our Chief Marketing Officer. The Bet will appreciate that. Okay, with that said, let's talk about CP pride. It's something else that is—there's not a shortage of in this company that I've recognized. So we'll be. As we've executed our growth mandate last year, I knew there was an opportunity to engage with employees, so I set out as the CEO, and with a lot of support internally, we went across the network. We did seven town halls. We connected with probably in excess of 2,000 of our CP family, from Montreal, straight across to Vancouver, down to St. Paul, as well as in Chicago.
And it gave me an opportunity, not to surprise me, but to energize me, connecting with that passion and commitment to this company. Passion and commitment for doing what's right, passion and commitment for sacrifice and for growing this company. And I got a lot of feedback, and you can imagine some of it was unfiltered, some of it, some of it was very candid, but it's the way people feel. And that gave me, as a leader, an opportunity to fill it myself, to reflect on it, and certainly a lot of those thoughts, although, though we haven't been able to act or fix all the concerns, been integrated in the decisions that I've made and certainly weigh on the influence. I feel morally, and I feel convicted as I lead this company going forward.
In addition to that, one of the first things we did, the new CEO, tapping into that CP pride, is we brought the beaver back. Some people maybe underestimated that, myself included. I've always adored and respected and appreciated. Until I came here, I truly didn't understand how connected it was to our hearts. But once I came here, beyond admiration, I understood how it's connected to the history, how it's connected to the hearts of CP railroaders. So bringing the beaver back in concert with our new logo, creating the new logo that we unveiled as the new CEO, is something I think, by luck or by fate, by God's good hand, has served us well, and it's allowed us to rally around a common vision, common goal, which is restoring and maintaining the health of this company for decades to come.
This is a company that connected this nation. It's woven into our DNA. The 137 years of pride, we're honored to serve, and we certainly intend to continue to write many more decades of successful chapters for CP story as we go forward, and we take that commitment, and we take that responsibility seriously. In addition to that, I had a very unique opportunity as the CEO. We were approached in Canada's 150th anniversary last year with our unique connection to the country to showcase our railroaders, to showcase this franchise, this remarkable franchise that's part of the fiber of this nation.
Discovery Canada came to us and suggested they'd like to do a showcase of what it's like to railroad, what it's like to take a train to the Canadian Rockies, what it's like to maneuver through the tunnels that are engineering wonders in this industry, not just in Canada, but in this world. So with that said, as a result of that filming, what, what's been produced is an eight-episode series for Discovery Channel that just finished airing here in Canada. I think it was April 23rd. Show of hands, who in the room had an opportunity to seeing that? I mean, it, it is a phenomenal, phenomenal piece of work, something that's gonna be part of our history, that we'll read about, and our kids and our kids' kids will be able to read about for a long time.
What's most important, the pride that we have inside, we had an opportunity to share it externally, take it across the world, not just in Canada, but internationally. Millions of people have experienced and been able to see and enjoy and touch and have a sense of the pride and the challenges that we deal with as railroaders day in and day out. So with that said, let me just take a quick moment to let you take a look again at a short clip before I conclude my comments.
You have all the machines in the world. But to deal with the Rockies, you have to have a team to go with it.
The men and women that work here, it's tough, mentally and physically. You're away from home, and it's a lot of work. You gotta really have your head in the game.
Most of the world would see a railroader as a tough, rugged man, dirt all over face with a big thick beard and a hammer over his shoulder. But honestly, what you think railroaders are isn't what they actually are. Railroaders come in all shapes and sizes.
I've worked many other places. I've done the six-inch stilettos, hair done, you know, and this, I thoroughly enjoy this. I like the fact that I can work around a bunch of guys and just be who I am, and they take me as I am.
The best thing about the job is it's constantly changing. There's always something new that you gotta go do. The worst thing about the job is, there's always something changing, and you never get to build a plan for very long.
Railroading does get in your blood. You need to care about what's going on out here to do the job properly.
I love everything about CP. I sound like such a suckhole right now, but it's totally true. I love it out here.
This train is an example of how we bound the two oceans together and connected people from coast to coast. It's great to see everyone to continue to celebrate 150 years. All right, Canada! All right, BC! All right, rail stars! Let's go.
So certainly, I'm sure that you would agree, that's a very unique opportunity for us to showcase the power of this company. 12,000 individuals, yes, but with one common vision and goal, and that's to continue to make this company great for our customers and for our shareholders. The other part of that, the piece of this, when you get into the episode, it also gave us a great opportunity to showcase the safety culture in this company and a lot of the leading-edge technology that we've invested in, which is used across the industry to ensure that safe transportation of our customers' goods. On the safety front, the chairman mentioned it, you know, I've always said safety is a journey, not a destination. You're never gonna arrive, you're never gonna get there.
But with that being said, with our focus and with some of the great investments we've made and the progress we're making, we enjoyed our twelfth consecutive year as the safest Class I Railroad, railroad in North America, not in Canada, in North America, according to an industry-standard Train Accident Frequency Ratio. That said, we have a lot of room left to improve, especially on the injury front. To that end, we recently introduced a program that we call CP Home Safe, which effectively is employees looking out for each other. When we see someone engaged in an unsafe act, we engage them because we care enough, care about them, we care enough to communicate, we care enough to be each other's keeper, to remain vigilant about safety and protect each other from the dangers that are just inherent part of our job that we must recognize.
We're doing a good job, but again, this is work never gonna be completed till we have zero injuries, zero derailments, which are certainly stretch, stretch objectives. We can and we must do better. That's a mandate that will continue. So as we look forward to 2018, the future is bright for this company. We've been demonstrating resiliency. You know, we had some very challenging winter conditions in the first quarter, but in spite of that, we're growing 6% more freight than last year. You know, we're looking at demand that's grown tremendously in Western Canada. Some of that's been compounded by some of the challenges our competitor has had up in the northern parts of our territory.
But with all that behind us, the extraordinary winter weather, a tremendous amount of momentum, we've created a lot of momentum in March and April, which is positioning us well for the rest of the year. From a resource standpoint, we continue to add locomotives and crews, 700 new employees in various stages of training across the property, with an additional 100 locomotives by the end of the year to, again, in lockstep with our growth, be able to provide that customer's service that we're committing to. We'll carry that momentum as we go forward. We'll continue to execute our strategic marketing playbooks to grow responsibly, as I've said, and we're gonna continue to develop new and innovative, innovative ways to enhance our service offerings, develop our total transportation project.
These are all areas that we'll continue to seek out and form long-term connections with our customers and our industry partners as we drive sustainable growth for all the parties involving. Part of that, we continue to reinvest in the business. Continues to be our first priority for cash. In 2017, we invested over CAD 1.3 billion, enhancing our network and our capacity and our ability to provide low-cost, reliable, safe service, productive and efficient. Continue to grow with our business. We continue to grow our investment in lockstep. We're gonna spend in excess of CAD 1.5 billion this year on capital programs, all which represent attractive rates of return for us to grow sustainably.
So given our confidence in the long-term growth prospects of the company, yes, this morning we announced a share—I'm sorry, last year, we announced a share buyback, which we finished in May. We retired or repurchased about 4.4% of our book the last 12 months. We also, this morning, continue our step to increase dividends in a thoughtful manner. We announced a 15.5% increase to our quarterly dividends as well. So looking ahead as we maintain this thoughtful approach to our capital, reinvesting in our business and returning value to our shareholders, it's always gonna be balanced through opportunistic capital allocations. So in closing, I trust that you agree 2017 was a pivotal year for this company as we grow forward. We've created momentum that we carry in 2018.
It continues to work for our customers and for our shareholders, for our fellow employees in the North American economy. Once again, I wanna thank you as our shareholders for placing your trust in CP, for placing your trust in me as your CEO, and in trust in our 12,000-strong CP family. I need some water. I'll stop my formal comments, and with that, we'll open it up for questions.
My name is Vanessa DiFruscia, and I'm a CP shareholder. Mr. Creel, Hunter Harrison, mentor. Talk a little bit about the role he played?
I don't know if we have enough time to talk a little about it, to really capture... But I can say this, in one term, Hunter was a visionary. Hunter had a very unique ability to drive bottom change. Hunter had a track record of experience and success that it takes to take the kind of risk that it took for the mandate to change that occurred in this company. What happened with the previous leadership team, with the previous board, with a mandate for growth and a mandate for change, never would have happened without a visionary like that, that had the capacity and the ability to be able to do what he's done.
So Hunter, some could say he's controversial, some could say that, he may ruffle some feathers and, you know, some have said, "You know him, you love him. If you don't know him, maybe you're adversely affected by him." But I can tell you this, having worked with him, I've never met a more principled person. I've never met an individual that knew more about the nuts and bolts of this business, from the ballast, to the car bearings, to the locomotive, to the track signals, and most importantly, to the people.
He understood how to make this business work, how to provide low-cost, reliable service. Visionary. His footprints are all over this railroad. They're all over this industry, and they always will be. So in short form, a lot of what I am, a lot of my knowledge is only because of him. I've got my own style, I've got my own thoughts, and I'll do it my way as a leader, because Hunter is an individual, too. He didn't get it all right.
He'd be the first to tell you that. But with that said, the foundation is solid, character solid, the operating model, perfect, and you execute it, and you don't get lost to what it stands for, and you understand it, the power that it holds. You can sustain this kind of success decades to come. It is the gold standard as far as I'm concerned. This is not my first rodeo. I've been doing this for 20 years. It's three railroads. It works, and it will continue to work at this company as long as we respect the principles, what it stands for. And we're gonna do that as long as I have anything to do with Canadian Pacific Railway. Thank you.
Mr. Creel, my name is [Ann]. My question for you is, indicated that more efficient in the supply chain. Can you please address what the future of the grain.
Yeah, let me. And what I've, I've been criticized, this company has been criticized as, you know, hockey, actually, lacrosse is the number one sport in Canada, then two is hockey, and three is beating up railroads. CP and CN, and I've been beat at both places, so I get it, right? So, so grain is key and integral to this franchise and key and integral to the economy of Canada. And we're a world-class supplier. Never gonna go away, as long as we protect those, those supply sources and the customers. We can do better. We can become more efficient. And like I said, the recipe to sustaining the success, reliable service, rolling costs, creating capacity. So how do we create capacity in the grain franchise, where you're bumping up against bookends that we don't own and we don't control?
We don't control the ports, we don't control the elevators, but we can control the relationships in concert, in partnership, in collaboration with the grain companies that do. That's exactly what we're doing, to try to be leaders in the industry, to evolve what has typically been a 112-car grain train into what we think is the gold standard, the CP model, an 8,500-foot, 134-car grain train. From an investment standpoint, and the hopper cars themselves, given C-49 gets passed as we think it will, we're investing our shareholders' money in that capacity and that reliability, in that long-term ability to sustain that success.
In lockstep, we're working with the grain companies to encourage and to work with them, so they invest in the bookends, so that we have the capacity to unload that 134-car train quickly on the West Coast, quickly in Thunder Bay, and conversely, load it quickly out on the prairies. With locomotives attached, we put the crews to bed, we get them back out, we turn that asset, and it's literally, it's like a conveyor belt. It never stops. As long as both bookends work and we work well in the middle, and it's efficient, and this is a, this is a 20%-30% improvement in efficiency.
To me, I look at it as such, 20%-30% less cost, it's 20%-30% much more reliable, and it's 20%-30% more capacity that we can deliver to our customers, to the grain companies to deliver a commodity to the world. That's feeding the world. It's critically important, again, to Canada, to CP, and to our grain partners, the customers that own the grain companies. So it's something that we're gonna continue to lead in. You know, John's the king of grain. That's his background. He's very passionate about it. He knows a tremendous amount about it. Joan as well. We've got the two best in the industry. There are no excuses with the best operating team to do it. We'll continue to be visionaries and leaders when it comes to grain movement in this country. Thank you. Yes, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am.
My name is [Lea].
Oh, gentleman, stand up there. Sorry, I apologize.
[audio distortion] With the Ocean Network Express contract, and we.
You can expect CP to compete CP contracts. Our product is what will win the business for us. Our capacity is what wins the business. I'm that aggressive word. We've got a responsibility. Our capacity is precious. We're gonna partner with customers that need that reliability and that value, that capacity, and that can convert strengths of our network and those transit times to grow, because when they grow, guess what? We grow, too. So as we compete, rest assured, this product is pretty compelling, and we're gonna continue to enhance it with Jonathan's leadership and Jonathan's team.
Well, Jordan's out here. You know, we're developing collaboration with the ports. We're delivering collaboration with other railroads by extending our reach, by entering new markets we haven't been into. Put all that together with an industry-best franchise and operating model, and that, in and of itself, is an aggressive product to put in the marketplace, which absolutely will allow us to continue profitable, sustainable growth in this space again. Absolutely part of the future. Hello, sir.
Pensioner. I'm also a shareholder. Live down the street, guys, in Building 10.
You're a neighbor. All right, good! Building Ten, a neighbor we love.
Yeah. Oh, it's just been great. I was just talking to a couple of your directors this morning from the States, I think, and very interesting. We had Mr. Velani speak to us at one of our meetings. We have about 200 pensioners, and we have 50, over 50, come for lunches here the second Tuesday of each month, if you want to drop in.
Well, I hope he paid for your lunch.
I think he did.
Okay. Well, if not, he will next time.
Yeah, I'm sure he will. I had a couple of comments. One, it surprised me, 137 years, half of which is 68 and a bit. And I've been with the company 69, which was kind of a surprise when I added it up.
Thank you for your service.
Yeah. The support for pensioners is just great here, just great. Got to give you thanks for that. One comment, your the film about the company, or it was actually a video, we were wondering if this could be, at some time, made available at cost, on a DVD for pensioners to use across the system?
Let me. That's something that I, too, would like to make available. I've. You know, we obviously have to work with Discovery Canada. Where's Jeremy? What's the. I don't want to set unrealistic expectations. Is that within the realm of possibility? Well, where I fit, once a CP family, always CP family, we should be able to share our story with our family, so let us work on that one.
Okay. Just one last one. I noticed that CN was in a bit of trouble with locomotives.
You're being gracious.
Yeah. I was gonna suggest that we took some of ours that were mothballed and give them at a very good rate to CN.
Well, you know what? They asked, literally asked if they can lease our locomotives, but we have plans for those precious assets. They had to go out and buy some new ones. Those locomotives that we've created surplus, that are in storage, we'll bring them in again in lockstep, like this year. Those 100 locomotives were locomotives that were stored. We're investing capital. We're refurbishing the locomotives, extending their life. They're coming back reliable, they're coming back fuel efficient, they're coming back as part of our ability to grow our revenue. So those are very strategic, surgical assets that, you know, I love. A lot of good folks at CN, it's a great railroad, but I work for CP. My fiduciary responsibility is here. I'll let CN figure it out, but it is a challenge for them. But I think, I think they're working on it.
Thank you. Keep working for CP.
Thank you for your vote of confidence. Any more? Feel free. Okay, with that said, I guess I can wrap things up. Again, thank you for joining us today. You can imagine, I love this company. I love this setting. I love this venue. We'll be back here same time next year. I don't know the exact date, but it'd be around the general same time. If you get a chance, as you can, as you leave, you probably noticed as you came in, the last edition of the family out there. Take, take a look at that hotel. That hotel, which is our answer, our asset utilization answer, it was an underused warehouse storage facility a year ago.
Immediately after the AGM, we went to work, and our team has converted that, literally, since the last AGM, into a first-class lodging facility for our officers to stay in, as opposed to paying hotels in Calgary to stay in. I said this to John, who was in the office the other night. I said, "You know, I did that with reason. When you're here, it takes a little effort to go out to eat, so I don't have to pay for you to eat at a hard restaurant, at an expensive restaurant, and you work more hours because your office is just right there, and you can walk home, and it's, it's pretty close." But it's a beautiful facility. The locomotives we've put out there as well. We're trying to make this compound, this facility, our campus, be something we're all proud of.
And I'm sure it's our CP family, when you see it, if this doesn't make you proud, I don't know what ever will in this century, because I've been to every corporate headquarters. Just like this company is a unique jewel that we're very proud of, that you should be proud of because your contributions, your efforts, have enabled it. This is not done by any one individual. It's our collective efforts, but again, it's part of the history, it's part of the tradition, it's part of the pride, and it'll be part of the story for decades to come in this company. So again, thank you for your confidence. Thank you for your vote. We'll continue to work hard for you, putting pucks in the net, winning customers' trust, business, driving shareholder value long term, and in 2018, we grow forward. Have a good afternoon.