Air Canada Ceo To Retire After English-only Response To Laguardia Tragedy

OTTAWA — Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau recorded a video last week to express condolences after a deadly crash in New York involving one of the airline’s flights. But the top executive of Canada’s national airline spoke almost entirely in English, prompting outcry and a swift rebuke — including from Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Facing calls for his resignation, the Montreal-based executive announced Monday that he will soon retire. The airline said he’ll be replaced with someone with “the ability to communicate in French.”

Rousseau’s video statement offered condolences to the families of two Air Canada pilots who died after a jet collided with a firetruck at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Although one of the pilots who died was from French-speaking Quebec, the CEO's message was almost entirely in English.

The controversy is the latest to highlight tensions over whether Canada’s French-speaking minority is adequately respected by national institutions and leaders.

The prime minister was quick to condemn the CEO’s message, saying it showed a “lack of judgment” and “lack of compassion.”

Canada has two official languages, English and French. About eight million Canadians — 22 percent of the population — consider it their first language.

“We proudly live in a bilingual country, and companies like Air Canada particularly have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages, regardless of the situation,” said Carney, who himself has a tutor helping him improve his French.

Donald Trump’s return to office has only underscored the urgency of protecting Canadian culture. Carney won office partly on a promise to protect the French language and other national symbols against Trump and his “51st state” provocations.

Rousseau’s inability to speak fluent French as head of the national airline has previously drawn criticism, but the latest controversy is playing out in a delicate moment.

Carney’s Liberals are two seats short of a majority government, and three upcoming special elections — two in Toronto and one in a Montreal suburb close to where Air Canada is headquartered — will determine whether Carney’s Liberals can hold onto power for another three years.

Carney’s Liberals are expected to hold the two Toronto seats, which are considered safe for the party. But the race in Terrebonne, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, carries higher stakes. The Liberals won that seat by just one vote in the last election, and they’re fighting to defend it from their main political rival there, the Bloc Québécois, a Quebec separatist party that has long accused Ottawa of watering down French identity.

While candidates have been careful not to tie Rousseau’s gaffe directly to the Liberals, the uproar has ignited a debate over Canada’s language laws and the federal government’s responsibility to enforce them as voters prepare to cast their ballots on April 13.

Air Canada, which originated as a government-owned company but was later privatized in 1988, is a symbol associated with Canadian identity because the airline was originally built with public money. Parliament has long argued that the national airline should reflect Canada’s bilingual nature, and therefore, the airline is required by law to offer services in French and English.

Carney said Monday that “it is essential that the next CEO of Air Canada is bilingual,” adding that Rousseau’s retirement is “appropriate.”

“He was an effective operator of the airline, and did many things, and I salute him for that,” Carney told reporters in Toronto. “But being a leader has many responsibilities.”