CEO Michael Rousseau to step down after backlash over English-only condolence video
Toronto: Air Canada has announced that its CEO, Michael Rousseau, will retire later this year after he was criticized for posting a condolence message only in English following this month’s fatal plane crash in New York.
Canada’s largest airline, based in French-speaking Quebec, said Monday that Rousseau had told its board he would leave at the end of the third quarter.
Canada is officially a bilingual country, and Prime Minister Mark Carney had said the English-only message showed a lack of compassion and judgment.
“We proudly live in a bilingual country, and companies like Air Canada specifically have a responsibility to communicate in both official languages at all times, no matter the situation,” Carney told reporters.
Antoine Forest, one of the two pilots who died in the crash at LaGuardia Airport, was a French-speaking Quebecer. Forest and Mackenzie Gunther died on March 22 when their Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing.
Canada’s largest airline is headquartered in Montreal. Rousseau, 68, had previously been criticized for not speaking French.
He delivered his video condolence message in English, except for the “bonjour” at the beginning and the “merci” at the end, with French subtitles.
This caused outrage in Quebec, where the National Assembly voted 92 to zero in favor of a motion calling for Rousseau’s resignation.
The Office of the Official Languages Commissioner has also received hundreds of complaints on this issue.
“I deeply regret that my inability to speak French distracts from the deep pain of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada employees who have demonstrated extraordinary professionalism despite the events of the past few days.” Rousseau said in a statement last week:.
“Unfortunately, despite the many lessons I have taken over several years, I still cannot express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I continue to strive to improve myself.”
Rousseau was paid 13.1 million Canadian dollars ($13.74 million) last year, according to the company’s most recent regulatory filing.
Air Canada said its board has been working on succession planning for more than two years and launched an external global investigation in January.
“The board will consider a number of performance criteria when evaluating candidates, including the ability to communicate in French,” the airline said.
Canadian Minister of Transport Steven MacKinnon He thanked Rousseau in his social media post and said the government will continue to work closely with Air Canada to ensure it “provides safe, reliable, affordable and bilingual service to all Canadians.”
Quebec Premier François Legault noted that Rousseau promised to learn French when he was appointed president of the airline in February 2021.
In 2021, shortly after being appointed CEO, Rousseau gave a speech almost entirely in English to business leaders in Montreal. After the event, he sparked outrage in Quebec by expressing his pride in being able to live in Montreal without speaking French for more than a decade. He apologized then too.
Quebec’s identity has been disputed since the 1760s, when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. About 80 percent of Quebec is French-speaking.
AP and Bloomberg
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