Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau will step down later this year after provoking a political uproar over his failure to speak French in a video message addressing a fatal New York plane crash.
Pilots Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther were killed when an Air Canada Express plane operated by Jazz Aviation collided with a fire truck on a runway at LaGuardia airport earlier this month. Forest was a French speaker from Quebec.
Following the tragedy, Rousseau sent a four-minute video condolence message in English, expressing his “deepest sorrow for everyone affected,” while only adding a “bonjour” at the beginning and “merci” at the end. Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, is based in majority French-speaking Quebec.
Canada is officially a bilingual nation, and his message sparked condemnation from senior political leaders, while also stirring longstanding tensions that led Quebec to attempt to become an independent state via referendums in 1980 and 1995.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday that he was “very disappointed”, adding that “we proudly live in a bilingual country, and companies like Air Canada, particularly, have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages”.
Industry minister Mélanie Joly, who represents predominantly French-speaking Montreal, said the message showed a “lack of empathy”, while Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet in a post on X called the video a “sad and gross lack of respect for the loved ones and family” and urged Rousseau to step down.
Rousseau tried to make amends the day after his initial statement, offering a “sincere” apology and explaining that “despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French”.
But on Monday, Air Canada announced that he will retire in September. It added that in choosing his successor, its board would “consider a number of performance criteria in assessing candidates including the ability to communicate in French”. It said the outgoing CEO would remain available to ensure a smooth transition.
Rousseau has faced calls to resign before, including soon after his appointment in 2021 when he delivered a speech almost entirely in English. Air Canada is subject to the federal Official Languages Act, which obliges it to provide services to its customers in both English and French.
The Canadian government does not own a stake in the airline, which was fully privatised in 1989, although it held 6 per cent of the listed company between 2021 and 2024 as part of an assistance package to support the country’s flag carrier in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jazz Aviation, which is owned by Nova Scotia-based holding company Chorus Aviation, operates regional flights under contract for Air Canada under the Air Canada Express brand.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the crash of the Air Canada Express jet, which was cleared to land before colliding with a firefighting vehicle that had been given permission by air traffic controllers to cross the runway at LaGuardia.
The safety board said last week that an electronic system had failed to warn air traffic control of the imminent collision, while the fire truck had not been fitted with a transponder despite federal recommendations. – Copyright: Financial Times