{"id":562357,"date":"2026-03-26T15:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/562357\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:57:08","slug":"air-canada-ceo-deeply-saddened-his-lack-of-french-proficiency-has-caused-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/562357\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Canada CEO \u2018deeply saddened\u2019 his lack of French proficiency has caused distraction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A memorial is shown on Wednesday for Air Canada Jazz pilot Antoine Forest, who died when his plane collided with an emergency vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Amid calls for his ouster, Air Canada chief executive officer Michael Rousseau addressed the language controversy ignited by his English-only message of sympathy to those affected by the plane crash that killed two pilots Sunday night at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport.<\/p>\n

In a statement released in both English and French on newswires early Thursday, Mr. Rousseau reiterated his condolences and said he is unhappy that his lack of French proficiency is proving to be a distraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs president and chief executive officer of Air Canada, it is my duty to support those affected by this tragedy,\u201d he said. \u201cI am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada\u2019s employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to reiterate my deepest condolences to the families of the Jazz captain and first officer who tragically lost their lives, and recognize the profound impact this accident has had on our employees and customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antoine Forest of Coteau-du-Lac, and Mackenzie Gunther of Ontario, were killed<\/a> when their Air Canada Express CRJ 900 jet operated by Jazz Aviation hit a fire truck on the runway after landing. It was arriving from Montreal and carrying 72 passengers and four crew members.<\/p>\n

Crews towed away the wreckage of the plane involved in Sunday\u2019s deadly collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck off LaGuardia’s runway Wednesday. <\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Politicians in Quebec City and Ottawa \u2013 including Prime Minister Mark Carney \u2013 reacted with disappointment and outrage<\/a> when Mr. Rousseau\u2019s Monday video statement on the tragedy was delivered entirely in English. Among those calling for him to resign are Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Yves-Fran\u00e7ois Blanchet and Quebec Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault.<\/p>\n

Pension fund giant Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec, which holds Air Canada shares among assets under management of $517-billion, added its voice to the criticism of the CEO. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that the video should have been in both official languages,\u201d the Caisse said in an e-mailed statement Thursday.<\/p>\n

John Gradek, a McGill University aviation lecturer, called the controversy a \u201ctempest in a teapot.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re supposed to be focusing in on the accident and the loss of life of two of our youngest pilots,\u201d Mr. Gradek said. \u201cThis kind of detracts from the conversation, unfortunately, but hey, welcome to politics in Canada in 2026.\u201d <\/p>\n

Opinion: Air Canada\u2019s CEO once again misses the boat on bilingualism<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal Parliament\u2019s official languages committee asked Mr. Rousseau to appear before May 1 to explain himself.<\/p>\n

Air Canada spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said Mr. Rousseau is not resigning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that he\u2019s at the helm\u201d at this time, he said on Wednesday. Air Canada is going through one of the worst events that can hit an airline, namely a crash that cost the lives of two pilots, on top of the financial strain of soaring fuel prices, he said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and is expected to have a preliminary report out within 30 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A memorial is shown on Wednesday for Air Canada Jazz pilot Antoine Forest,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-562357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562357","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=562357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}