On Sunday night, we saw a tragic accident at LaGuardia (LGA), whereby an Air Canada Jazz CRJ-900 and a fire truck collided on the runway, leading to the death of the two pilots, plus several injuries.
This is beyond tragic, and obviously the primary focus should be on those who suffered because of this. However, it’s also interesting to note what’s becoming a very big story in Canada, with many calling on Air Canada’s CEO to resign, accusing him of being disrespectful.
In this post:
Air Canada CEO only records video in English, not French
On Monday, Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau recorded a video message about the accident that happened at LaGuardia.
The reality is that these videos almost always follow the same formats, so this video is virtually identical to ones that we’ve seen following past accidents at other airlines (as you can see in the below side-by-side comparison, shared by @LiveFromALounge).
But there’s one thing about the video that stood out the most to many people — the video was only recorded in English, and not French. The only French in the video was a “bonjour” at the beginning, and a “merci” at the end.
Canada has two official languages — English and French — and this was a flight from Montreal, and one of the pilots who was killed is from French-speaking Quebec.
Rousseau has been slammed for this video, given what a sensitive topic language can be in Canada:
- Canada’s Official Languages Committee has voted to demand that Rousseau explain himself, about why a video wasn’t recorded in French as well
- Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has said that “in light of this sad and gross lack of respect towards the loved ones and family of the pilot from Coteau-du-Lac, Antoine Forest, a French-speaking Quebecer, the head of Air Canada must very seriously ask himself whether he has not clearly disqualified himself for the position he holds”
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that the video shows “a lack of compassion,” saying that “we live in a bilingual country, and companies like Air Canada particularly have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages”
In response to this criticism, Air Canada has released the following statement:
“Mr. Rousseau felt it was important to personally address our customers, our employees, and those of Jazz, their families, and all those affected in any way. He therefore recorded a message before leaving for the crash site.”
“Despite his efforts, his ability to speak French does not allow him to convey such a sensitive message as effectively as he would have liked in that language. We have therefore used subtitles to ensure everyone can receive his message directly.”
In isolation you might not think much of this situation, but there’s history here of his issues with French. In 2021, Rousseau gave his first major speech as CEO of the airline, which was 26 minutes long, with only 20 seconds of it being in French.
After the speech, he took questions from reporters. A French journalist asked him (in French) how he has been able to live in Montreal for 14 years while speaking so little French. In response to this, Rousseau said:
“Can you redo that in English? Because I want to make sure I understand your question before I respond to it.”
At that point the journalist repeated the question in English:
“How can you live in Montreal without speaking French? Is it easy?”
Rousseau responded with the following:
“I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French, and I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal.”
You can watch the interaction for yourself below.
Following this, Rousseau committed to improving his French, releasing the following statement:
“I want to make it clear that in no way did I mean to show disrespect for Quebecers and francophones across the country. I apologize to those who were offended by my remarks. I pledge today to improve my French, an official language of Canada and the common language of Québec, while tackling the serious commercial challenges facing Air Canada as we move from surviving the pandemic to rebuilding to normalcy. The fact that this iconic company is headquartered in Montreal is a source of pride for me and our entire executive team. I reiterate Air Canada’s commitment to show respect for French and, as a leader, I will set the tone.”
My take on Rousseau’s French language controversy
I see people taking strong stances on both sides here. Some people find it ridiculous that language is what’s being focused on with such a major accident, where people lost their lives. At the same time, who am I to tell people who care about language whether they should or shouldn’t be offended, especially since this is something that impacts their community?
Bigger picture, I just don’t see how Rousseau is still CEO of Air Canada. The funny thing is that Air Canada is well run, and has some excellent senior executives, like Mark Galardo, Mark Nasr, etc. Admittedly they’re still pretty young, but they know the industry as good as anyone does, and are incredibly competent. All of that says nothing of the fact that Ben Smith (who was previously President at Air Canada, and is now CEO of Air France-KLM) should’ve just been made CEO of Air Canada earlier, and then he might not have left.
What’s bizarre is that you’d assume that Rousseau has just been missing for five years, since I don’t think there’s an airline CEO out there who is less public. And it seems to be precisely because of his lack of French. Now he makes an appearance, only to cause this controversy again.
Maybe there’s something I’m missing — is this guy some sort of genius in the background? At least from the outside, it seems to me that guys like Galardo and Nasr are running the show, and I’m not sure what value Rousseau is adding? If nothing else, a CEO needs to be able to get employees excited and behind something, and Rousseau has never struck me as someone who accomplishes that.
But maybe I’m wrong? I’m just going off my observations here, plus that I almost never see an appearance from him.
Bottom line
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau is once again facing backlash over his lack of French. He recorded a video about Sunday night’s accident at LaGuardia, but only in English, and not in French, despite the fact that he committed to improving his French, after a similar scandal years ago.
This is so serious that even the Prime Minister is commenting on it, and politicians are calling on him to explain himself. While it’s hardly the most important topic in the aftermath of an accident, I can’t wrap my head around how this guy still has his job…
What do you make of this Air Canada CEO language controversy?
The is just egotistical Canadian who has to overcompensate by bullying Canadian who only speaks English because people from France piss on them for not speaking 'real' French.
This is why Canada is in the sad state it is now.
Americans can't relate to this but plenty of other countries have similar issues. Look at Belgium with French vs Flemish or in Switzerland. The guy has lived in MTL for 14 years and can't pre-record 2 sentences in French to express condolences for a French pilot...they knew there was going to be blowback about this. That said, these questions are always blown out of proportion in Quebec. Much bigger fish to fry.
So if the guy lives in Africa for 14 years, he can now use the n-word?
During the 3 day strike that shut down Air Canada last year, this same CEO did a tv interview (in English) where he admitted that the airline had no operational back-up plan because they expected the government would order the striking workers back to work immediately.
He’s dumber than a bag of bricks and clearly a liability to the airline. No one cares what finally gets him fired, just get him fired.
I love that the apology statements were also written in English. Lmao
And Dinky Liddle Tom Deuce Dunn? Does Delta CEO speak FRENCH? THINKING NOT HMMMM? Guess you can't be "Totally Enraged" by this ( that as I have on good, no VERY GOOD, authoritie) you claim to be ! And actually Only English - even worse as the USA is bilingual country - where is his Spanish?? Looks like Moe Kirby and Team United win yet again!
About 70pct of Canada's population don't speak French .. or let us say Québécois. It is clearly as big faux pas, given the controversy it was likely to cause However they should focus on the bigger picture as the vast majority speak English. C'est tiguidou.
I would normally be in the "this is ridiculous" camp but I do think that the lack of a French version of the video is more appalling than normal Canadian Bi-Lingual controversies given (a) the lead pilot was from Quebec and (b) the flight took off from Montreal, so I would expect a good amount of the passangers are based in Quebec.
Now, I'm sure there would've been some hand-wringing around this even if the...
I would normally be in the "this is ridiculous" camp but I do think that the lack of a French version of the video is more appalling than normal Canadian Bi-Lingual controversies given (a) the lead pilot was from Quebec and (b) the flight took off from Montreal, so I would expect a good amount of the passangers are based in Quebec.
Now, I'm sure there would've been some hand-wringing around this even if the flight was from Calgary, but its I think fairly in this case amplified by those factors.
on the CEOs competence …I don’t see how one can know whether he’s adding value or not based on his media profile. Ultimately he is the CEO and should be judged on the company’s performance and not his public visibility. That is how the market and shareholders judge. Perhaps as a leader his style is to let his exec team be more visible - that’s a legitimate strategy and it can be effective for some...
on the CEOs competence …I don’t see how one can know whether he’s adding value or not based on his media profile. Ultimately he is the CEO and should be judged on the company’s performance and not his public visibility. That is how the market and shareholders judge. Perhaps as a leader his style is to let his exec team be more visible - that’s a legitimate strategy and it can be effective for some leaders.
The reason the language has become politicized this week is that there is soon to be an election in a Quebec constituency. In my view it’s sad that they would would do this at this time.
There are reasons why something unimportant to you is important to others.
Foreigners (non-Canadians) bewildered by Canadian bilingualism is like non-Americans bewildered by US gun issues. Quickly forming opinions, internet-style, isn't a good look.
There's a history.
I'm more offended that he didn't start with a land acknowledgement.
LOL, yes, this. The safety video even acknowledges this. Concentrate on what is needed for safety, not that you are flying over some indigenous lands.
Oh my gosh this is so over the top in Australia.
Air Canadas CEO has nothing to apologize for. The ones who should be are those two stupid pilots that literally ignored what was said by ATC and slammed into a fire truck that was sitting in the middle of the runway.
The aircraft was landing, wheels down, you utter idiot. The firetruck crossed an active runway.
Icarus- The fire truck was cleared to cross the runway. The young stupid pilots were not listening to ATC and chose to land. Even after they landed they could have pulled to the left, but instead rammed straight into the fire truck.
This is by far the worst take I've read on any crash ever. The aircraft was landing and already on the ground. They don't go from 100 to 0 on a dime.
Congrats Jim, you just made Tim look like a genius by comparison!
Some of France’s largest companies, including l’Oreal and BNP Paribas, use English as their principal company language. The only people who fuss regularly about using French are the Quebecois and French diplomats at the UN.
AI would have helped with this easily in this day and age.
French-English language conflict in Canada is as old and often as black-white gender issue in the States. They almost seceded from Canada in late 1995 with the vote count of 49.6% approval rate. Fortunately, they were not as imbecile as the British approving Brexit referendum. Yet, they consistently receive the most government coffer while contributing much less compare to western provinces. They also enjoy more opportunities to gain federal government employment, via various co-ops programs...
French-English language conflict in Canada is as old and often as black-white gender issue in the States. They almost seceded from Canada in late 1995 with the vote count of 49.6% approval rate. Fortunately, they were not as imbecile as the British approving Brexit referendum. Yet, they consistently receive the most government coffer while contributing much less compare to western provinces. They also enjoy more opportunities to gain federal government employment, via various co-ops programs in universities. Heck, Moroccans speak French like French native speakers. Many French native speakers say that they do not understand French Quebecois that they speak English with each other. One guy explained that French Quebecois speak " thirteen century French farmers' language". Learning French is much more challenging than learning English because it involves masculin/ feminine and other weird circumflex accents. Five years of intense learning French (not immersion) will not pass proficient standard, but may earn you "passable" knowledge.
La seule chose qui compte, c'est d'accumuler beaucoup de points de fidélité. Il est également important d'utiliser ces points.
NATIONAL DISGRACE.
Nasr is interesting as he was very visible during the new aeroplan rollout, genuinely engaged with the FF community and seemed super sharp. Unfortunately, his performance during the labour disruption was a bit of a disaster. The "We've got to get the planes back in the sky" CP24 video is worth checking out. Ben Smith is interesting as he's done a great job with labour at AF, which people thought was mission impossible.
I honestly think he should have done better with his French. He could have at least gotten someone to write a script in French and practised it before recording the video. I'm from a non francophone African country and have lived in Montreal for 5 years and can hold conversations in French. This guy has been here for more than a decade. I stand with the French Canadians in this. People should make effort to integrate
This is obviously something Canadians care very much about and very little of the rest of the world cares about. Canadians please explain bc many other countries have multiple official languages but the corporations in those companies choose just a single language when making public statements
Enlighten me why abortion is such a hot button issue that continues to rile up people of all stripes when other more pressing issues are swept under the rug. Canadians do not care about this issue only the French Quebecois. Those who do tend to feel aggrieved by the injustice of some sort like a small section in this country.
???
is abortion a big issue in French-speaking Canada??
I can't understand how a country would still speak french in the 21. century.
Could it be because it’s one of the official languages of the country, millions of people speak it within the country and it’s part of the historical fabric of the country? Just spitballing.
It's very regional and mostly Quebec . It is barely spoken in other provinces.
Team No One here. Air Canada knew its CEO had language issues, given past spats, and should have been able to avoid this PR gaffe. That said, the Quebecois obsession with language drove most of Canada’s big companies out of Quebec in the 1970s, other than state/provincial owned ones. The provincial government props up the economy, but it’s not sustainable.
The French Canadians may not like to admit it, but English is the principal language of business all over the world. It also happens to be the majority language of Canada, a bilingual country. And hundreds of thousands of people live very full and rewarding lives in Montreal with little or no ability to speak French. It may not be politically correct to say it, but that’s the truth. Senior airline executives have more pressing...
The French Canadians may not like to admit it, but English is the principal language of business all over the world. It also happens to be the majority language of Canada, a bilingual country. And hundreds of thousands of people live very full and rewarding lives in Montreal with little or no ability to speak French. It may not be politically correct to say it, but that’s the truth. Senior airline executives have more pressing demands on their time than learning another language.
So does this mean the CEOs that have been/were running foreign airlines in Asia, Africa, Europe and Middle East need to be fluent in the languages of where their airlines are located? Absolutely not.
You’re hired to a do a job, not be a polyglot.
If he’s not competent at his job, that’s one thing. But if he’s not fluent in Québécois French, go find something more important to criticize (and yes, I...
So does this mean the CEOs that have been/were running foreign airlines in Asia, Africa, Europe and Middle East need to be fluent in the languages of where their airlines are located? Absolutely not.
You’re hired to a do a job, not be a polyglot.
If he’s not competent at his job, that’s one thing. But if he’s not fluent in Québécois French, go find something more important to criticize (and yes, I didn’t call it “French” because it’s not French from France - it’s Quebec’s language, and not a dialect).
The language police and other critics of this issue really need to do something more productive with their time.
Signed,
an Anglophone who lived in Montréal once and still remains turned off and annoyed by Law 101 up there - and continues to watch the province destroy itself and its economy with this nonsense.
(yes, I actually speak some French and Québécois French but apparently it’s not good enough for anyone up there)
This particular crowd of Canadian citizens is never satisfied. They've been this way for decades.
A plane crashed. People are dead. But they're vocally angry that an executive doesn't speak sufficient French in his sympathy video.
Oh, to live in a world where THIS keeps you up at night.
Also, notice that the Official Languages Committee - an actual standing committee of the Canadian House of Commons - has summoned him to give sworn testimony about his lack of French.
The government has not summoned him to talk about safety, or training, or accident response. They don't care about that. They just want to know why his French is so limited.
I could understand the angst if Air Canada was government owned, but it was privatized long ago.
Because Air Canada is legally required to comply with the Official Languages Act (OLA) under the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
The Air Canada Public Participation Act (ACPPA) is a 1988 Canadian law that privatized Air Canada (formerly a Crown corporation) by selling its shares to the public. It mandates that the private company maintains its headquarters in Montreal and operational/maintenance centres in Mississauga, Winnipeg, and Montreal, while adhering to the Official Languages Act.
Because Air Canada is legally required to comply with the Official Languages Act (OLA) under the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
The Air Canada Public Participation Act (ACPPA) is a 1988 Canadian law that privatized Air Canada (formerly a Crown corporation) by selling its shares to the public. It mandates that the private company maintains its headquarters in Montreal and operational/maintenance centres in Mississauga, Winnipeg, and Montreal, while adhering to the Official Languages Act.
Yes. And in Quebec, they do things like make laws your business can't have an English name. So, businesses had to remove a " 's " from its name and you eat at PFK (Poulet Frit Kentucky) (OK, I wouldn't). I love Montreal, but I only got treated nicely when I learned I had to make sure they knew I was American. I went from a p.o.s. Canadien with lousy French skills to an American who actually tries to speak French.
This is a nothing-burger. No one is seriously upset with Air Canada or its CEO. The pilots are heroes. RIP.
“I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French, and I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal.”
Certainly not a testament to your empathy, your open-mindness, nor your learning skills
As a Canadian....this is just another eye roll moment in terms of the ongoing battle between english and french Canada.
I am from Ottawa and fully bilingual...but its annoying to see this as a political issue at the moment.
As much as I think Rousseau is a terrible CEO for non-language issues; we need more attention to the emergency at hand....i think this is an issue for say...a month from now.
The...
As a Canadian....this is just another eye roll moment in terms of the ongoing battle between english and french Canada.
I am from Ottawa and fully bilingual...but its annoying to see this as a political issue at the moment.
As much as I think Rousseau is a terrible CEO for non-language issues; we need more attention to the emergency at hand....i think this is an issue for say...a month from now.
The Canadian government needs to put their effort to push ATC changes in the USA. This distraction doesnt provide much credibility in that effort.
AC needs to be sensitive to customers and be there for all of Canada. But i dont think this is a political issue...but this is Canada....this is the national past-time of the ongoing tussle between Quebec/French and English Canada.
WHO!?!?!?!
Canadians don't even speak real French.
My family in France will attest to this.
Your family in France doesn't even speak real Canadian French
Far too many people around the world think that they can speak English …. however, here on the right side of the pond, we know better …. :-)
And you can say Americans don’t speak real English what a stupid comment from a stupid person
What a travesty! Disrespectful Mikey Russell must not realize Canada is a "bi-lingual" country? I wouldn't be surprised if the house of representatives starts moving to replace him as CEO. After 5 years of lessons in a language how have you not been able to "master" it? Fishy!!!! Called "not trying"?
Nice feigning outrage you got there.
These folks are delusional.