Air Canada CEO to step down after backlash over crash condolence video

Toronto: Air Canada has announced chief executive Michael Rousseau will retire later this year, after he was criticised 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 on Monday that Rousseau told the board he would leave by the end of the third quarter.

Canada is officially a 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 particularly 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 Quebecker. 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 criticised for not speaking French.

He delivered his condolence video message in English, aside from “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 favour 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 profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days,” Rousseau said in a statement last week.

“Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologise for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve.”

Rousseau was paid C$13.1 million ($13.7 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 started an external global search in January.

“The board will consider a number of performance criteria in assessing candidates including the ability to communicate in French,” the airline said.

Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s transport minister, thanked Rousseau in a social media post and said the government would continue to work closely with the airline to ensure it “provides safe, reliable, affordable, and bilingual service to all Canadians”.

Quebec Premier François Legault noted that when Rousseau was appointed president of the airline in February 2021, he promised to learn French.

Shortly after, Rousseau gave a speech to Montreal business leaders almost entirely 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. He apologised that time, too.

Identity has been a contentious issue in Quebec since the 1760s, when Britain completed its takeover of what was then called New France. Quebec is about 80 per cent French-speaking.

AP, Bloomberg

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