Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited

Good afternoon. My name is Sylvie and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Canadian Pacific's second quarter 2021 conference call. The slides accompanying today's call are available at www.cpr.ca. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, simply press star then number one on your telephone keypad. And if you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star followed by number two. And I would like to introduce Chris DeBrin, Managing Director, Investor Relations and Treasury, to begin the conference.

Thank you, Sylvie. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I want to remind you this presentation contains forward-looking information. Actual results may differ materially. The risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could influence actual results are described on slide two in the press release and in the MD&A filed with Canadian and U.S. regulators. This presentation also contains non-GAAP measures as outlined on slide three. With me here today is Keith Creel, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Nadine Villani, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and John Brooks, our Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. The formal remarks will be followed by Q&A. In the interest of time, we would appreciate if you limit your questions to one. It is now my pleasure to introduce our President and CEO, Mr. Keith Creel.

All right, good afternoon. Thanks, Chris. I want to begin my comments by saying that my thoughts and my prayers remain with those affected by the wildfires in British Columbia, and specifically those in Lytton. You know, our hearts at CP go out to everyone that's been impacted, the village of Lytton and Lytton First Nations, and several members of the CP family who actually lost their homes in the Lytton fire. Next, I want to continue to thank the more than 12,000 strong CP Railroaders that are truly the drivers behind the unique story of sustainable, profitable growth at CP. Bar none, it's the best team of railroaders in the industry. We continue to prove it. It's a team that I'm extremely proud to be railroading with. So let's spend the time, let's focus on the results. Needless to say, extremely proud of what the team has delivered this quarter. Through the collective efforts of our railroaders, the quarter we delivered record second quarter revenues of nearly 2.1 billion, record second quarter operating ratio of 55.3, and earnings growth of an impressive 27% to a record $1.03. Behind those numbers, obviously, is a very impressive operating performance. Special thanks to Mark Redd and the industry best team of talented railroaders that he leads and serves with daily, able to produce train weights, train leads, continue to improve, built on last year's records up 1% and 3% respectively, record second quarter car miles per day up 4% on the quarter. Trip and compliance for our customers better than 80% continues to improve. And most importantly, safety results for the quarter, both all-time lows for this company. Records on both reportable injuries as well as reportable derailments. Personal injuries were down 34%. And train accident frequency decreased 70%, 7-0%. This is only attainable with the right safety culture. It's one of focusing on getting stronger, something we're continuously focused on. It's a pursuit of excellence. You never really arrive. You pursue perfection. Again, through an ongoing continuous improvement process, focusing with a commitment to investment in technology, people in process continues to show our efforts through the results of constant improvement. The financial and operating results this quarter are undeniably a continuation of our unique, persistent, scheduled railroading story at Canadian Pacific. It truly shows what a proven, seasoned PSR model can accomplish. Sustainable, profitable, top-line growth, margin improvement, earnings growth, running the network efficiently and safely, and creating significant value for our customers and for our shareholders. It's truly a balanced approach and a balanced outcome. This is a team that has a track record of producing results, creating value, no excuses to make. The results here in these areas, be it managing on the downside or being at the rebound post the pandemic, prove that in spades. So with that said, let me say the balance of my comments for our Q&A, and I'll turn it over to John to provide some color on the markets.