YUL

Hi yulred,

Sorry, I'm really not aware of the issues sourounding Montreal-based folks who use routes like YUL-DEL and YUL-CAI.

Can you direct me to a link explaining the situation? (Or I'm missing the whole allusion due to my poor english)

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PS: Ok, just figuered it out - I guess.

If I'm understanding it right, that's another debate and definitely far away from the Air Canada/Mr Rousseau's situation (and pretty outside the anglo-franco debate).

I guess if we can't argue in one debate, we deflect and bring in a new debate 😉. I'll be very happy to debate this new one, including the historic background - on the omni forum.
(But hey, I might be in the left field here - if so, what was your allusion then?).

Bonne journée chers confrère de Montréal/Ottawa.

garykung

I am actually with Rousseau on this. This is practically a personal character assassination.

Whether he is a French descent or not, he has a right not to know any French, which is a right guaranteed by Canadian law.

Does that mean every ethnic has to speak its respective language? As a Chinese, I know a lot of Chinese who do not know Chinese.

YUL

Gary, Mr Rousseau's french name is not really the debate here...

Anyways, I personnaly like Mr. Brosseau's frankness here; he has a no bs / right in your face approach. And he surely had no intentions to offend anyone.
He figured all was normal, and like everyone else around him at AC - never bothered to learn french.

But somehow after 14 years, he still had no clues on how sensitive the subject was - despite all the warnings.

Same thing for those who appointed him, didn't they figured out a way to mitigate the potential PR disaster?

Again, this is strickly a PR disaster. It could have been mitigated.

The fact those executives won't bother to learn french is not new, and this will remain the case in the future.
(And for the most part, I accept that - we need to attract the best talents around)

yulred

Just goes to show how poorly understood the implications all of this has for some communities, are. The vast majority of them don’t see them as separate issues; they just see this new issue as adding to the previous list of rights they don’t (or may not) have in QC, but would if they moved to elsewhere in Canada.

If they do (and I’ll simply drop the word “education” here; make of it what you will), that probably affects the type of destinations that are served from YUL.

YUL

In touching the education aspect, it's my understanding that Mr Rousseau's kids went to french schools - eventhought they could have attended anglo schools w/o any problems.

From a Quebecois perspective, kudo to Mr Rousseau. I wish that info is spread around. Because honestly, this guy needs a break.

YUL

Here's a very interesting take on the event, 100% on target IMHO.

I highly recommend reading it - even if only to understand better Quebec's particularities...

It explains why by example Robert Milton and Marty Brewer did not encounter such difficulties.

(3 minutes read)
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...nys-brand.html

tcook052

You expect Calin to have foreseen his successor saying something ill advised in public? Really? I don't as the responsibility for this PR debacle begins and ends with M. Rousseau though that's merely MHO.

YUL

Foreseeing exactly what happened? I agree.

But Mr Rousseau's apparent frankness / candid / right in your face (no filters?) approach must have been already well known, right?

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Even at National Defense (where our personnalities are also more like "right in your face" 😉 ), we were indeed briefed sometime by Public Affair - for that exact reason...

tcook052

There's a quite a difference between what's said in private and what's said in public as I'm sure M. Rousseau has learned to tailor his style to his audience; being frank in the corporate executive lounge is much different than being 'in your face' in front of a crowd at an AGM, for example, so would've expected him as the CEO of a large company to have appreciated the difference and been less candid in public comments in English at a Chambre de Commerce du Montréal métropolitain meeting that he should well know would reflect back on the firm he represents.

Had this been a case of his comments being overheard at a post-event cocktail hour or caught on a open mic then it's a another thing altogether but he has nobody but himself to blame and for me can't expect his predecessors to have foreseen such a public blunder.

The Lev

I'm not sure they are as dissimilar as you might believe. Yes the ability to live in English in Montreal is infinitely easier than being a Francophone in Toronto but the reality is that English is Montreal's second most spoken language whereas French doesn't crack the top-10 in Toronto (or most other major metropolitan centres in Canada). I am fortunately bilingual, but there are plenty of places in Quebec where it would be a struggle to live as an anglophone just as there are plenty of places in Canada where it would be a struggle to live as a francophone.

Montreal is pretty unique (in a good way) that people can live comfortably in either of our official languages and that the majority of parents have brought their kids up to speak both. A somewhat fairer comparison might be Ottawa/Gatineau, Sudbury or Moncton... albeit on an altogether different scale. FWIW, There are plenty of older Italian, Portuguese and Chinese immigrants who have gotten by with at best rudimentary English... but they had the support of a large local community from "back home".

For better or worse, outside of a few large cities, official bilingualism is a fiction in this country.

This is a fun site to go and play to see the population concentration by language: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-r...505&TOPIC_ID=4

YUL

Well, apparently not so.

And somehow nobody around him figured that one out either, and/or cared to prepare him for his first speach for Chambre de Commerce de Montréal - despite all the warnings.

Was it his first speach / interview in Montréal, as a CEO?

--> But I totally agree, Mr Rousseau should have known better. And yes, he is obviously responsable for this.

The Lev

I think "gotcha" journalism is responsible for this. I suspect it would have been very hard for Mr. Rousseau to answer the question in a way that could not have been spun to cause outrage among the minority of Quebecois who feed off these opportunities.

Arguably AC is responsible for hiring an Anglo to lead the company, but as a private company they are perfectly within their rights to do so (and should hire the best person for the job not the best bilingual person).

My prediction: This will all blow over in a few weeks when the news cycle moves on to juicier things..

24left

CBC - Posted: Nov 08, 2021 2:38 PM ET

QUOTE:

In a rare move, the federal government's number two elected official is asking the chair of Air Canada's board of directors to demand that company CEO Michael Rousseau step up his efforts to learn French.

"Significant improvement in Mr. Rousseau's ability to communicate in French should be incorporated as one of his key performance goals," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a letter to Vagn Sørensen, chair of the private company's board.

Freeland also has asked the board to make knowledge of the French language a condition for promotion to senior executive positions, and to formally review policies and practices on the use of French throughout the company.

Full article
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/air-c...ench-1.6241411


EDIT TO ADD

La Presse - Publié le 8 novembre 2021 à 11h23

Unilinguisme du PDG d'Air Canada
Chrystia Freeland demande à Michael Rousseau d’apprendre le français

QUOTE:

Le discours presque exclusivement en anglais prononcé par son président-directeur général, Michael Rousseau, la semaine dernière devant la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain et ses propos sur le français « sont tout à fait incompatibles avec l’engagement qu’a pris la Société à l’égard des deux langues officielles depuis les tout premiers jours de la privatisation d’Air Canada », écrit-elle au président du conseil d’administration du transporteur, Vagn Sørensen.

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/p...e-francais.php
.

yulred

If that’s what the Government wants, why don’t they just write it into ACPPA and make it the law.

And will she be writing the same letter to WS?

And literally every other federally regulated corporation in Canada - banks, telcos etc?

Why we’d want to shrink the pool of talent is beyond me, but apparently that’s a good thing.

Jagboi

Can the board of AC now demand minimum competency levels from cabinet ministers?