Inco

"nodded agreement that it looked good as Desmarais explained its merits. Then Beattie pointed to the key numbers and asked where the funds would come from. Desmarais raised his eyes from the plan and said the money would come from Beattie. Beattie looked at Desmarais, picked up the ash¬ trays, the wallpaper rolled together with a snap, and Beattie showed Desmarais the door. Desmarais had set the ground for his battle. The rest of his creditors, who included the tax department, commercial lenders and suppliers, had already agreed to the plan. The creditors were ready to accept some cash immediately and payment over five years of the balance owing them from Sudbury Bus Lines, if Desmarais could swing a deal with Inco. Desmarais kept up the pressure on Inco, consistently pushing his plan and meeting with Inco personnel to negotiate some sort of deal involving the Copper Cliff run. Inco management knew it needed a reliable bus service between Sudbury and Copper Cliff. Desmarais was offering a plan that would guarantee the service. At the same time, Desmarais had drawn into the picture the man¬ agement of Local Lines, one of the regional bus lines, which carried passengers from points within Sudbury along routes outside the city limits. It was a company experienced in the economics of rural and inter-urban bussing, and in the strange schedule needs of the Copper Cliff run. It was also the company that had sold the Copper Cliff run to Sudbury Bus Lines in 1949, when the inter-urban route had been profitable. Desmarais didn’t let up on Inco executives. They finally agreed that the Copper Cliff run was essential to them and that they would have to pay for it. So they gave Desmarais his $138,000; it was neither gift nor loan, but a “purchase” of a guarantee of continued existence for the Copper Cliff run. Then Desmarais ensured the ex¬ istence of the run, and the survival of his company, by getting rid of it. He ceded the Copper Cliff run to Local Lines, which could operate the essentially inter-urban line at a profit. Desmarais then distributed that portion of the $138,000 earmarked for initial payments in his debt rescheduling plan, and got on with turning his urban bus operation to greater profit."

"So the Copper Cliff run was Desmarais’s nemesis, but also the bargaining chip that would save his bus company. All he needed was someone with whom to bargain. Logically, that was Inco’s manage¬ ment, which needed reliable transportation for its many workers living in Sudbury who didn’t own cars and had to make the daily 19 km round trip."

"He worked out a five-year financial projection for his company on a roll of wallpaper, so that he could get all the figures and plans on one sheet. He then found out who at Inco was responsible for ensuring employee punctuality and productivity — it was vice-president Les Beattie — and presented the plan to him. It detailed how Desmarais intended to turn the company into a sound, profitable operation that would ensure Inco’s workers would always have a ride to and from work. It required, however, a cash infusion of $138,000, which Des¬ marais didn’t want to borrow, as it would only add to the company’s debt and defeat the restructuring plan."