OTTAWA -- Canadian National Railway Co., an icon of nation building in the country, wants to hold annual meetings in the United States, reports the National Post.

The Montreal-based railway will ask shareholders at its annual meeting in Halifax on April 16 to amend its articles to allow future U.S. meetings, if desired.

Among the possible locations are Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans and Washington.

The amendment would also allow CN to drop the requirement that board committees be comprised of a majority of Canadian residents.

Mark Hallman, a CN spokesman, said the changes reflect recent amendments to the Canadian Business Corporations Act.

Moreover, he said, more than 60% of CN shareholders are American, 55% of its traffic is trans-border or domestic U.S. and a large portion of its network is based in the United States.

"We are certainly a North American corporation with significant activity in the U.S. and it makes sense," he said, noting the majority of directors must be Canadian.

CN also reported compensation for its top executives in U.S. dollars, a move Mr. Hallman said is intended to make comparisons with other major railways easier.

In 2001, Paul Tellier, the president and chief executive, was paid US$904,159 in salary, a bonus of US$797,400, a long- term incentive payment of US$978,900 and other compensation of US$43,598. In 2000, he took home a US$807,972 salary and US$605,979 bonus. He also received 230,000 options at an exercise price of $51.10.