Canadian prime minister says Air Canada CEO’s English-only condolences lacked compassion
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that the Air Canada CEO’s English-only message of condolence after Sunday’s deadly crash in New York showed a lack of compassion and judgement and Quebec’s premier called on the airline executive to resign.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau is being summoned to testify at Parliament’s official languages committee after he shared a four-minute condolence video online that only included two French words — “bonjour” and “merci.”
Antoine Forest, one of the two pilots killed in the crash at LaGuardia Airport, was a French-speaking Quebecer. Forest and Mackenzie Gunther died when the Air Canada Jazz flight they were landing at LaGuardia collided with a fire truck on the runway Sunday evening.
Canada’s largest airline is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, where French is the primary language. Rousseau has been criticized for not speaking French previously. He delivered his condolence video message in English, with French subtitles.
“We proudly live in a bilingual country. There are two official languages here and Air Canada has a special responsibility whatever the situation to communicate whatever the situation in both official languages,” Carney said.
“I am extremely disappointed by the message released by the CEO of Air Canada. It shows a lack of compassion, and we will be closely following his comments before the official languages committee as well as the comments coming from the board of Air Canada.”
Quebec’s identity has been contentious since the 1760s when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. Quebec is about 80% French-speaking.
Quebec Premier François Legault noted that when Rousseau was appointed president of the airline in February 2021, he promised to learn French.
“If he still doesn’t speak French today, it’s disrespectful to his employees and to his francophone customers, so yes, I think that if he doesn’t speak French, he should resign,” Legault said.
Federal Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said the Air Canada board should force him out.
“He should leave. He should acknowledge the fact that he doesn’t have the requisite respect for Quebec society,” he said. “There is a limit to the number of insults that one is supposed to stand.”
A spokesperson for Air Canada didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has received hundreds of complaints about Rousseau’s video.
“I don’t want to make political hay over what remains a tragedy with people still in hospital, but this isn’t the first time that he’s been told to speak French and he should know better,” said Marc Miller, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said a lot of the victims and their families are francophones and said Rousseau’s video lacked empathy. “It is a question of moral leadership,” Joly said.
Carney said Canadian officials continue to work in close collaboration with their American counterparts to determine how this crash happened.