MONTREAL, April 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) and Earth Day Canada (EDC) announced today a five-year partnership agreement under which EDC will support a CN program to encourage environmental values and initiatives among CN employees across North America.

Working at key North American CN offices and yard facilities, the program will:

    - Motivate, encourage and enable employees to embrace environmental
      stewardship and support a cleaner environment;
    - Leverage CN and EDC environmental resources, best-practices and
      programs to increase employee action in yards and office efficiency,
      reduce natural resource consumption and waste, and
    - Recognize and celebrate sustainability gains in the workplace.

For 20 years, EDC, a national environmental charity, has provided Canadians and Americans with practical knowledge and tools to help them lessen their impact on the environment.

"At CN, we are fully committed to reducing our impact on the environment," said Paul Miller, CN's chief safety and sustainability officer. "Energy efficiency has been a key element of our business model for years, positioning us to increase productivity and reduce energy consumption. We will harness EDC's support and expertise to enable CN employees to expand their environmental understanding and initiatives to help reduce the impact of local workplaces on the environment."

Jed Goldberg, president of Earth Day Canada, said: "We are thrilled to support CN in their conservation efforts. Efforts on the part of a large sector-leader like CN have the potential to substantially reduce the environmental impact of the transportation service industry and to act as a model that other corporations and communities can emulate."

To learn more about CN's environmental initiatives, please visit the Company's website at www.cn.ca/environment

To learn more about Earth Day Canada's environmental initiatives, please visit www.earthday.ca

About CN

CN - Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries - spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.

About Earth Day Canada

Earth Day Canada (EDC), a national environmental charity founded in 1990, provides Canadians and Americans with the practical knowledge and tools they need to lessen their impact on the environment. In 2004 it was recognized as the top environmental education organization in North America, for its innovative year-round programs and educational resources, by the Washington-based North American Association for Environmental Education, the world's largest association of environmental educators. In 2008 it was chosen as Canada's "Outstanding Non-profit Organization" by the Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication. EDC regularly partners with thousands of organizations in all parts of Canada. www.earthday.ca

SOURCE CN