Canada - Canada's two largest railways are giving investors a glimpse of what the future may hold by putting second-in-commands in charge while health issues sideline the chief executive officers.
 
Canadian National Railway Co. chief financial officer Luc Jobin is co-ordinating the company's leadership team until November while CEO Claude Mongeau is treated for a tumour.
 
At Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., chief operating officer Keith Creel is overseeing day-to-day operations while Hunter Harrison recovers from leg surgery the carrier said in July would mean an absence of "a few weeks."
 
"Absolutely, this is an audition," Robert Mark, associate director of research at MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier Inc., a wealth-management firm, said by phone from Toronto.
 
"At CP, people will be scrutinizing Creel more because he is the heir apparent."
 
At CN, where there isn't an obvious successor, the company "will look to see who steps up," Mr. Mark said.
 
The timing means that Canada's two biggest industrial companies are being led by caretaker CEOs.
 
With the Canadian economy in a recession, Mr. Creel and Mr. Jobin face similar challenges, overcoming declines in shipments of coal and crude oil and keeping costs in check through furloughs and other reductions.
 
"In the next six months, there is little reason to buy the railroads," said Philippe Le Blanc, whose Cote 100 Inc. asset-management firm owns CN stock among the $750-million it oversees.
 
"But if you have a long-term perspective, the rail franchise is worth investing in. In five years' time, both companies will be bigger and more profitable."
 
So far, the caretakers have been keeping an even keel.
 
CN rose 5.1 percent in the past three months through Wednesday, while CP declined 4.2 percent, outperforming their U.S. peers.
 
The Canadian companies move less coal, a trouble spot for the U.S. carriers, and are getting a boost from the weakening Canadian dollar.
 
Investors have also been reassured by the depth of the management bench.
 
Mr. Creel has already been anointed Mr. Harrison's successor when the CEO retires in 2017.
 
"Railroads are big-picture businesses," Mr. Mark said.
 
"CP made its 180-degree turn when Hunter was brought in, and the future is pretty well planned out. Strategy is not going to change. Plus, the boards are fully intact."
 
At CP, the 47-year-old Mr. Creel, whom Mr. Harrison hired away from CN in 2013, has been preparing for the job for more than a year.
 
He began his railway career at Burlington Northern Railroad in 1992 before joining Illinois Central Corp. in 1996.
 
He and Mr. Harrison went to CN when it acquired Illinois Central in 1999.
 
CN's Mr. Jobin, 56 and CFO since 2009, has a much different background, all of it outside the railway industry.
 
He previously worked as executive vice-president at Power Corp. of Canada, the holding company of Quebec's Desmarais family, having earlier spent 22 years with Montreal-based Imasco Ltd., rising to CEO at the company's Imperial Tobacco unit.
 
Doctors found a rare type of pre-cancerous soft-tissue tumor in Mr. Mongeau's larynx, CN said 12 Aug 2015.
 
His treatment plan calls for surgery, about one month of healing, and about six weeks of targeted radiation therapy to "completely cure the illness," the railway said.
 
After a successful operation, Mr. Mongeau, 53, is "recovering well" and he "remains engaged with CN's business," Mark Hallman, a company spokesman, said on Monday.
 
Mr. Harrison, 70, is recovering in Connecticut after undergoing surgery to have stents implanted in his legs.
 
He remains "actively engaged" in the company's business, spokesman Marty Cej said last week.
 
Frederic Tomesco.