Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau is once again facing backlash in Canada over his inability—or unwillingness—to communicate in French. But this time, the controversy comes in the wake of tragedy.
Air Canada CEO Under Fire Again For English-Only Message After Deadly Crash
Following the fatal collision involving an Air Canada Express regional jet at New York LaGuardia Airport that killed two pilots, Rousseau released a video statement expressing condolences, as flagged by PYOK.
There was just one problem: it was almost entirely in English.
That did not sit well with Canadian lawmakers, who have now demanded an apology. Even Canada’s transport minister publicly expressed disappointment, underscoring how sensitive the issue remains in a bilingual country.
Rousseau reportedly used only a couple of words in French in his message, despite addressing a national audience in a moment of grief on a flight that originated in Montreal.
And just like that, a familiar controversy was reignited.
This Isn’t New…And That’s The Problem
This is not the first time Rousseau has faced criticism over his lack of French.
Back in 2021, I wrote about a similar issue when Rousseau admitted he had been living in Montreal for years without learning French, sparking outrage across Quebec and beyond.
As I noted at the time:
“It’s not about the French, it’s about the respect. I realize that when I think about my habit of trying to learn simple greetings in the local language of the country I am visiting. The cliche is that the French (in Metropolitan France) sneer at Americans trying to say merci and au revoir. But that is simply not the case, at least in my experience. Rather, I cannot think of a nation where a small effort to speak the local language is not appreciated, even if the speaker quickly reverts to English.”
That sentiment still holds true today…
Because five years into the job as CEO of Canada’s flag carrier, the obvious question remains: why has he still not learned French?
This is not about perfection or fluency. No one expects perfect eloquence in both languages. But making the effort, especially in a moment like this, matters.
And that effort still seems lacking.
Air Canada is not just another airline. It is the flag carrier of a proudly bilingual country. Language in Canada is not a trivial issue. It is tied to identity, culture, and history. Which is why this keeps coming up…
Rousseau may be an effective executive. But leadership is not just about operational performance or financial results. It is also about understanding the country you represent when you are the flag carrier.
Delivering a message of condolence after a deadly accident in English only, even if unintentionally, signals disrespect to a large portion of Canadians. And that signal is understandably not being received well.
> Read More: The French Language, Respect, And The Air Canada CEO
CONCLUSION
Michael Rousseau’s latest controversy is not really about language proficiency. It is about perception. After five years leading Air Canada, the expectation is not perfection, but effort. And in a moment that called for unity and empathy, that effort appeared to fall short. By now, this stops being a communications issue and becomes a leadership one.
Am I too hard on Rousseau? Is this a political distraction during a national tragedy?
The so-called ‘backlash’ seems fairly limited. Most people simply feel bad/sad that this tragedy happened. And, honestly, it wasn’t really Air Canada’s (nor Jazz, its affiliate) fault. The pilots literally died, saving their passengers. No one is perfect, though I have nothing but respect for Air Canada these days.
Agree with you 100%, it’s a thin skinned response by a few people when the reality is the loss of life, and how this happened is what we should all be concerned about.
Air canada is a crappy airline. Maybe better than Spirit but maybe not.
Psh. You apparently haven’t flown Spirit.
This is an example of why Canada is a crazy country. It would be like attacking Matthew for not having a French version of Live and Let’s Fly.
He should have brought a very senior French executive to deliver a message. He is correct in saying that a native French speaker can deliver a sensitive message better.
In terms of politics, the need to speak both languages results in a tiny pool of candidates for prime minister. As a result, it’s easy to get a clown. It would be like requiring the head to come from one specific small town. Look at the USA. Trump’s native language is Mafia dialect of bullying. English is his second language covfefe
A tiny pool? Nationally, about 18% of the Canadian population, or over 6.5M people, can speak both official languages. There’s some regional variation in that number, sure, but the main point is that it’s not /that/ rare of a skill; even in the province with the lowest rate, it’s still 5%, or one out of twenty people walking down the street.
It is surprising that, in a company where the bilingualism rate is likely higher than the national average, that the CEO continues to be outside that circle and just doesn’t seem to get it with the cultural implications, again and again.
Define “speak”. That CEO can speak French but not too well. How many Canadians are so bilingual that they can deliver a TV type message in both languages, both fluent and not hard on the ears? 3-5%? If so, 95-98% are not.
This is a fairly easy question to answer Derek. According to Statistics Canada and the 2021 Census, 7.73mn Canadians spoke French as their first official language out of a total population of 36.3mn. So, 21.3% of Canadians speak French as a native language in Canada. A further 479,760 Canadians reported speaking English and French equally as a first official language. My anecdotal observation is that someAmericans think of French in Canada as a niche anachronism, a relic spoken by a small minority perhaps akin to the cajun French in Lousiana or Hawaiian language in Hawaii. In fact, it is the functional language of business in Canada’s second largest province, Quebec and official bilingualism at the Federal level is a serious political and legal matter.
In Vancouver, a lost French speaking couple for directions. I saw it. Asked a lot of people. No luck. Finally, I help them but my French isn’t very good, certainly not enough to even read a prepared statement smoothly.
How many of those 6.5 million would be potential CEO material? The pool isn’t that large. Plus, quebeckers aren’t well educated..
That is crazy. If you require a CEO to be ambidextrous in the USA you’d have to select from 3.5 million. You can argue that isn’t small all you want. But limiting your pool to 1% of the population for no good reason limits the quality of what you get.
It seems that if he is to continue in his position, he needs to take action as soon as possible to become fluent in spoken French.
Remember that, in 2021, he boasted about having been able to work and live in Quebec for 14 years without having to learn French.
And as expected, he was summoned right away to Ottawa on Tuesday to explain himself before the Committee on Official Languages regarding his English-only message of condolence to the families of the pilots, including one from Quebec, who died on Sunday evening in the plane collision at NY’s LGA.
Francophile Canadians are legally compassionate about their French. Ignoring these wishes seems nothing short of rude. However even the best bilinguals struggle with code switching when stressed. The proper answer would be a statement addressing this and moving forward with better effort to work on his French. So sad
So, a major comlany’s CEO should spend his time learning French for no other reason than he might have another crash in the future. It’s sad some are concerned about his French skills.
As a Canadian….and from Ottawa too…..this is exactly the frustrations and stupidness that we put our energy into at this inopportune time…..
This isn’t necessary right now…..how about the parliamentary councils spend thier efforts in getting ATC addressed in the USA to save lives…..but no…they are worried more about Le or La in a video…..
Canada and especially Quebec has always used a litmus test first….qualificaitons second….for hiring….to a lot of detriment….in canada its very much a double standard. Native english has to speak perfect french…native french only needs to have bare minmum of English knowledge….its canada’s bias and internal prejudice.
get through the crisis first…..then discuss how you can improve french…..
Only Air Canada is subject to the Official languages rules….not WS, PD or TS…..etc.
Yep, and Quebec bans English names fir business in a bilingual country. So, you have Poilet Frit Kentucky.
Because the French speakers are ridiculous.
For the CEO of such an important Canadian company, it shows a startling lack of political awareness. Imagine the most important business leader in Puerto Rico standing up to deliver an important message to the Puerto Rican people and he does so entirely in English. It doesn’t matter that everyone understands English. Yes, I giggle at so many politicians struggling to deliver a few sentences in French. But at least they are trying!
So a CEO should learn to speak Puerto Rican (just joking, Spanish) even though it is completely unnecessary to conduct business just in cas some tragedy occurs? This is form over substance.
My mother and family are from Val d’Or, Quebec. I grew up in the US speaking English, French and Spanish. Your observations of Quebec culture and Canadian/Canadien cultures are spot on.
I am shocked that there was not a French message especially considering to origin at Montreal and that the crew are all Francophone and probably at least 1/3 of the passengers.
Great reporting.
On vous a compris, Monsieur!
I would remind the complainants that two men are dead, a FA was ejected from the aircraft and seriously injured, eight passengers are still in hospital, and two firefighters were also badly hurt. Whining about the CEO of AC not making a bilingual condolence speech is petty, pompous, and frankly insulting to the dead and injured. Grow up.
Il est très stupide. Ne pas parler français dans un pays francophone? On dirait même qu’il a du mal avec son anglais!