Well, yes, train length is a huge issue, I was talking about dispatching in a very general sense, inclusive of the operating philosophy, not the individual dispatcher (or RTC in Canadian parlance). Although I can give you an example of some pretty poor indiviual dispatching that stabbed the Canadian. I am thinking particularly of a time when I was not on the train, but had the opportunity to fan a 15 hour late #1 north of Kamloops. The dispatcher put the Canadian in the first siding north of Kamloops, only a few miles from the North Kamloops yard, and let the already late train sit for 45 minutes waiting for a maid-of-all-work manifest freight with a lot of empties. They couldn't have held the freight in the yard for 15 more minutes to let the Canadian clear?
The thing is is that CN can't handle just 4-6 passenger trains a week anywhere close to on time. So their freight operations also must be hugely snarled by the same issue. I understand it is catching up to them, shippers are growing unhappy, and they are starting to invest in longer sidings, but that takes awhile.
Another little mentioned issue besides the train length and being held forever in a siding while multiple trains are fleeted by, is sometimes the Canadian takes forever to negotiate yards. Edmonton, I'm looking at you.
Via doesn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter about putting up with it. Amtrak has at least a few levers at its disposal that it can use to pressure the host railroads and has used them (I seem to remember Amtrak suing UP a few years ago for instance). Via pretty much has nothing and is truly at the mercy of CN, unless the Canadian Parliament steps up and finally gives Via a statutory foundation that would include some teeth as to operating precedence (unlike Amtrak-NRPC, Via was not established by legislation, but was created by the Canadian equivalent of an executive order). Via's only option, aside from putting up with it, is really is not to run at all, a decision which would be greeted with joy by CN.
I am gratified to hear that they are at last in negotiation with CN on a new schedule. However, note that Via already extended the schedule by like 12 hours a few years ago to make the train more reliable, so now CN will get more slack and in few years it'll be hours late on the new extended "reliable" schedule, again.