Prime Minister Mark Carney is criticizing Air Canada president and CEO Michael Rousseau for making an English-only statement of condolences following the deadly Sunday night crash of one of the airline’s planes at LaGuardia Airport.
One of the pilots killed in that crash was from Quebec.
“I’m very disappointed, as others are — rightly so — in this unilingual message of the CEO of Air Canada. It doesn’t matter the circumstances but particularly in these circumstances: a lack of judgment and a lack of compassion,” Carney told reporters on Thursday morning, speaking first in French before repeating the criticisms in English.
“We live in a bilingual country. Companies like Air Canada, particularly, have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages, regardless of the situation.”
Rousseau has been summoned to appear before the House of Commons standing committee on official languages, which voted unanimously on Tuesday afternoon for Rousseau to answer why he spoke only two words in French in the video, which were “bonjour” and “merci.”
The video had French subtitles.
“I will follow his comments closely and comments, which I would expect in due course, from the board of directors,” Carney said.
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In 2021, Rousseau was summoned to Ottawa after speaking only around 20 seconds of French in a 26-minute speech at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages received more than 2,600 complaints.
Rousseau told reporters after his speech that he had been “too busy to learn French” and said he had “no trouble living in English in Quebec for 14 years,” sparking backlash across the province.
The next day, Rousseau released a statement offering an apology in both languages.
“I want to make it clear that in no way did I mean to show disrespect for Quebecers and Francophones across the country,” Rousseau’s statement read. “I apologize to those who were offended by my remarks.”
Canada’s then-deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland wrote a letter to Air Canada’s board of directors at the time, urging that “its CEO improve his French and that his knowledge of the language be included in his annual performance review.”
She also asked that knowledge of French “become an important criterion for securing promotions at the airline,” which is subject to the Official Languages Act.
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