promise that he would learn French.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m asking him to quit his job right now, because he\u2019s not respecting our language. He\u2019s not respecting Quebecers.- Qu\u00e9bec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal<\/p>\n
She also spoke to the fact that immigrants to Quebec, like her parents, are asked to learn French six months after they arrive. Yet Rousseau has lived in Quebec for much longer, she pointed out, and still hasn\u2019t learned the language. For her, \u201cthese two standards are unacceptable in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quebec Liberal Party Leader Charles Milliard echoed that sentiment, acknowledging that it\u2019s hard for immigrants to learn French in six months. But Rousseau’s time spent living in Quebec means \u201cwe could do better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon made the case that this situation is further evidence of Quebec\u2019s need to be independent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo all the people who think there\u2019s a legitimacy to have French as an official language and that companies should respect that, there is a solution,” he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI invite everyone who thinks that the specificity of Quebec in terms of the French language that should be respected to vote for the independence of Quebec. Because that\u2019s what normal countries do. They have an official language and people learn the official language.\u201d<\/p>\n
WATCH | Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader says Rousseau doesn’t have the required respect to keep his job:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774471811_241_default.jpg\")
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‘He should leave’: Blanchet wants Air Canada to oust its CEO after English-only message<\/p>\n
Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Yves-Fran\u00e7ois Blanchet said Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau ‘doesn’t have the requisite respect for Quebec society and all French Quebecers and French Canadians’ to keep his job. Rousseau is facing backlash after delivering a unilingual message about a collision involving an Air Canada Express passenger jet that killed both pilots \u2014 years after he said he was taking French lessons.Air Canada’s response <\/p>\n
In a statement late Tuesday, Air Canada said Rousseau chose to speak in English to ensure his message was received as clearly as possible given the emotional circumstances.<\/p>\n
“Mr.\u00a0Rousseau\u00a0felt it was important to personally address our customers, our employees, and those of Jazz, their families, and all those affected in any way. He therefore recorded a message before leaving for the crash site,” the statement read.<\/p>\n
“Despite his efforts, his ability to speak French does not allow him to convey such a sensitive message as effectively as he would have liked in that language. We have therefore used subtitles to ensure everyone can receive his message directly.”<\/p>\n
The statement added that any information about the collision Rousseau gave in the video was also posted online in both official languages.<\/p>\n
In an updated statement Wednesday, a spokesperson reiterated Rousseau’s desire “to speak in person and promptly offer our condolences to the families and convey our messages to customers and staff.”<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, he does not have the necessary skills to deliver this message in French, so it has been provided in the available format with French subtitles,” the statement reads. <\/p>\n
A company spokesperson did not respond to whether or not Rousseau would remain in his post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault is being joined by Quebec politicians of various stripes in calling for Air Canada CEO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-560784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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