Toronto: Air Canada has announced that its chief executive, Michael Rousseau, will retire at the end of this year, after coming under fire for his English-only message of condolence following this month’s deadly plane crash in New York.
Canada’s largest airline, based in French-speaking Quebec, said Monday that Rousseau told the board he will leave at the end of the third quarter.
Canada is an officially bilingual nation 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 have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages, regardless of the situation,” Carney told reporters.
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 from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing on March 22.
Canada’s largest airline is headquartered in Montreal. Rousseau, 68, had previously been criticized for not speaking French.
He delivered his condolence message on video in English, along with “bonjour” at the beginning and “merci” at the end, with French subtitles.
That caused a furor in Quebec, where the National Assembly voted 92 to zero in favor of a motion calling for Rousseau’s resignation.
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages also received hundreds of complaints about it.
“I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the deep pain of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada employees, who have demonstrated exceptional professionalism despite the events of recent days.” Rousseau said in a statement last week.
“Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately I still cannot express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I continue to strive to improve.”
Rousseau received C$13.1 million ($13.74 million) last year, according to the company’s latest regulatory filing.
Air Canada said the board has been working on succession planning for more than two years and launched an external global search in January.
“The board will consider a number of performance criteria when evaluating candidates, including the ability to communicate in French,” the airline said.
Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Transportation of Canada, thanked Rousseau in a 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 when Rousseau was named president of the airline in February 2021, he promised to learn French.
In 2021, shortly after being named CEO, Rousseau gave a speech to Montreal business leaders almost exclusively in English. After the event, he expressed some pride in being able to live in Montreal for more than a decade without speaking French, sparking outrage in Quebec. That time he also apologized.
The identity of Quebec has been controversial since the 1760s, when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. Quebec is about 80 percent French-speaking.
AP and Bloomberg
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