The head of Canadian National Railway Co. is calling on businesses to take Canada’s future into their own hands as the country continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and works to get the economy back up and running again.  

"We can’t really rely just on the government for them to figure out when to return and get the economy back on its feet," said CN Rail chief executive officer JJ Ruest in a BNN Bloomberg interview on Tuesday. "All of us have a role to play now as to how we pivot and enable the economy and trade again."

This comes as some provinces have begun unveiling plans to reopen their economies.

"I think they’re providing the right signal," he said. 

While governments lay out a framework for re-opening their economies, businesses can find pragmatic solutions to help strengthen a weakening economy, Ruest said.

"Businesses have a role and obligation to find a way to create a work environment that’s safe and where people can go back to work and earn their paycheque," he said.

He points to the efforts CN Rail has been putting in to ensure that the business keeps operating to the best of its ability, including the cleaning of locomotives, tools, applying social distancing and work-from-home measures, and as of May 1, requiring all employees to wear face masks. 

"We never [slowed] down for the pandemic," he said.

With that approach, Ruest believes that Canada needs to be productive again.

"We can’t just be for months and months depending on [the government], printing money and having people stay in [their] house," he said.

Meanwhile, the rail company is withdrawing its 2020 profit forecast and three-year financial targets because of the uncertainty around the pandemic. With the exception of grain and crude oil, freight volumes were down across all commodities in the first quarter, due to the virus and the rail blockades that took place in February. Lumber shipments are currently weak as housing starts are down due to the coronavirus, while the demand for crude is slowing, Ruest said. 

Despite this, CN Rail's first-quarter net income of $1.01-billion dollars, up from $786-million dollars last year. Ruest is optimistic that operations and performance could improve after May.