Struck by a wave of indignation at his unilingualism, and even calls for his resignation, the big boss of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, finally apologized. His team had, however, been warned by the Commissioner of Official Languages that a speech only in English would cause an uproar. The CEO ignored these warnings, and Commissioner Raymond Théberge’s prediction was borne out, his office receiving more than 200 complaints in 24 hours.
The commissioner admitted to being surprised on Thursday at the scale of the reaction. A speech like this usually attracts a dozen complaints, Théberge told the To have to. “It’s a significant number. It shows how much it struck a chord with people, ”he observed in the middle of the day, when the figure was still only 60 complaints.
Air Canada alone is the subject of an average of 85 to 100 complaints per year. However, the speech in English of its president and chief executive officer before the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal on Wednesday had already earned more than 200 to the company at the end of the day Thursday.
Following this speech on Wednesday, Michael Rousseau confessed that he had been living in English in Quebec without much difficulty for 14 years. The businessman – whose wife and mother are French-speaking – had invoked his “work schedule” to explain not having learned the language of Molière.
In a press release released Thursday morning, Mr. Rousseau now wrote that he “in no way” wanted to “disrespect Quebeckers and Francophones across the country”.
However, the team of the Commissioner of Official Languages had warned Air Canada earlier this week – when the Journal of Montreal revealed how things would play out – that a speech in English only, delivered by the CEO of a company subject to the Official Languages Act, was concerning. The speech was nevertheless delivered almost entirely in English, apart from a few short sentences read in laborious French.
“I foresaw a certain controversy, if not a crisis, around this speech. But it exceeds what I expected, ”confessed Commissioner Théberge.
Despite the apologies, the majority of opposition parties in Quebec as in Ottawa demanded the resignation of Mr. Rousseau. However, the governments of François Legault and Justin Trudeau did not go that far.
The Quebec premier, who is still at COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, nonetheless argued that Air Canada’s board of directors should consider whether its current president is still in his place.
“I watched Mr. Rousseau’s video and I find it insulting, it makes me angry, his attitude, to say that he’s been in Quebec for 14 years and that he didn’t need ‘learn French. It is unspeakable, it shocks me, ”chanted François Legault.
On the Ottawa side, the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, denounced the comments “simply unacceptable” by Michael Rousseau. “I have taken note of his apologies, but they must be followed by concrete actions in order to [qu’il démontre] that he takes his obligations seriously. It’s a question of respect, ”she argued in writing.
The regret of the CEO somehow aggravated the controversy in Quebec. “I apologize to those who were offended by my words. Today I am committed to improving my French, the official language of Canada and the language used in Quebec, ”Mr. Rousseau said in his press release.
This stung the Quebec minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, to the heart. “French is not the language of use,” he retorted. “The official language of Quebec is French. I hope Mr. Rousseau understands that, ”he said. He too considers that the attitude of the CEO is “unworthy of his functions”, but he judges, like Prime Minister Legault, that the fate of Mr. Rousseau at the head of Air Canada “belongs to the board of administration ”.
Summoned to resign
The opposition parties have not shown the same restraint.
Liberal André Fortin not only demanded an apology from the boss of Air Canada, but also “that he resign from his post and that companies under federal jurisdiction be subject to the French Language Charter.”
Same story with the elected representative Ruba Ghazal, who said he wanted Mr. Rousseau to leave office. The MP, born in Lebanon, also recalled that she and her family had learned French when they arrived in Quebec, while Michael Rousseau did not do the same. “Just that attitude is a symbol of the business world,” she lamented. A reproach also addressed by the liberal Marwah Rizqy, whose mother, an immigrant “with four children”, “without money”, found the time to learn French.
On the federal scene, Bloc Québécois MP Mario Beaulieu called on the federal government “to use its position as a shareholder of Air Canada to demand the resignation of Mr. Rousseau”.
New Democrat Alexandre Boulerice also called for the departure of the boss of Air Canada, who according to him “spits in the face of Quebeckers and all members of French-speaking communities in the country.”
The Conservative Party condemned Michael Rousseau’s speech in English, but did not mention his resignation.
Let us return to the provincial scene. The PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, demanded an apology from Mr. Rousseau and a commitment on his part to learn French. “But I don’t want us to get bogged down in surface stuff. Application of Bill 101 to Air Canada. This is our request, ”he summed up.
Minister Jolin-Barrette, who is leading the Legault government’s Bill 101 reform project, recalled that his bill aims to extend the scope of the Charter of the French language to businesses under federal jurisdiction. “We will not wait after Ottawa for them to act, because they have not acted on this subject for 40 years with Air Canada,” he added.
With The Canadian Press
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