Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau to retire later this year following language controversy (IMAGE: X)
AIR CANADA CEO: Air Canada president and CEO Michael Rousseau is set to retire in the fall after nearly two decades of service with the airline, the airline announced on Monday, just a week after making headlines when he issued an English-only message of condolence over the deadly crash of Flight 8646 in New York.
“Mr. Rousseau has reached a natural retirement age. His decision is consistent with the Board’s longstanding focus on CEO executive succession planning, which has been underway internally for more than two years.”
In an internal note to employees of the airline, which Radio-Canada reported it had received, Rousseau wrote that he felt proud to wear the airline’s emblem over his heart but that the time had come for him to retire.
He will continue to lead the airline and be a member of its board of directors until the end of the third quarter of the year.
Air Canada Flight 8646 took off from Montreal and crashed into a fire truck when it landed at New York’s Laguardia airport on March 22, killing two pilots – first officer Mackenzie Gunther and Captain Antoine Forest – and injuring dozens of others.
Rousseau offered his condolences to the families of the victims in a video the following day. However, he was immediately criticised for giving the message in the video in English, except for the greeting “bonjour” and the closing “merci.”
The pilot, Forest, is a francophone who hailed from Coteau-du-Lac, Que. Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal, and the policy of the airline is that all its employees must be able to communicate in both of the two official languages of Canada.
Mark Carney, the Prime Minister, said Rousseau’s message was “a lack of judgment and compassion.” Bloc Québécois Leader, Yves-François Blanchet, said Rousseau’s message showed “a sad and gross lack of respect” for the Forest family. He also called for Rousseau’s resignation.
Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney defended Rousseau, saying the executive’s time could be more productively spent on the safety and reliability of the service than on the language.
Rousseau followed up with an apology on Thursday, in which he said that he was “deeply saddened” that his “inability to speak French” had caused distraction from the grief of the mourning families. He also said that despite having studied French for many years, he still cannot “adequately” express himself in French. However, this did not go down well with people.
However, in 2021, the executive gave a speech in almost pure English in front of a business audience in Montreal. When questioned by Quebec media over the incident, Rousseau appeared to be unable to respond in French and admitted to having lived in Montreal for 14 years without needing to know the language.
At the time, Chrystia Freeland, who is now the deputy prime minister of Canada, wrote to the Air Canada board of directors in a letter urging them to ensure that Rousseau improves his French skills and that his knowledge of French is made part of his performance review each year.
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