MODERATOR NOTE: THIS THREAD HAS RESURFACED IN 2026 DUE TO CRITICISM OF ROUSSEAU'S UNILINGUAL REACTION TO THE CR9 CRASH AT LGA. THOSE WISHING TO SKIP THE HISTORICAL CONVERSATION FROM 2021-2022 CAN SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE FIRST 2026 POST HERE.

Original post follows...
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Um.....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...ench-1.6236690

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau has apologized and committed to improving his French amid heavy backlash by federal and Quebec officials, including the premier today, who called Rousseau's comments on Wednesday shocking and disrespectful.

On Wednesday, the CEO delivered a 26-minute speech at the Palais des congr�s in Montreal, during which he only spoke French for about 20 seconds. After the speech, Rousseau was asked in French by a journalist for Quebec TV news channel LCN how he's managed to live in Montreal for so long despite speaking little French.

https://twitter.com/AirCanada/status/1456261960626888717?s=20

Meanwhile, over in Paris.....

Apology almost as awkward as "If you look at my work schedule, you'd understand why." I guess it's time to look at his compensation schedule... this appears to be an admission the work is overwhelming his abilities.

I would actually prefer that he spend his time making the customer experience better rather than learning French.

I'd think to do this, he first has to conquer English. I think the words that landed him in hot water were not in French. Pretty difficult to earn trust with the ranks, critical to customer experience, if he can't speak publically in any language effectively. But, maybe he's good enough for Air Canada.

He kept a dig his statement against Quebec's "French only" politicians by saying French is an official language in Canada and adding that French is the common language in Quebec, stopping short of saying that it is "THE official language in Quebec".

"The fact that this iconic company is headquartered in Montreal is a source of pride for me and our entire executive team."

Really? Don't most of the execs work out of Toronto? Ben Smith only had a Toronto office. Calin had both. I'd be curious to know where Michael's is/are.
I'm pretty sure Mark Nasr and his entire team are in Toronto.

It shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

I am impressed. For someone who learnt French at his age, is accent is actually quite good. Very impressed.

I'd argue that the only reason they have their HQ still in Montreal is because their required to according to Federal Legislation (ACPPA).

What he probably really wanted to say was it's none of the government's business what language he speaks and if theirs noses are so out of joint, he will gladly leave AC's notional head office in Montreal to satisfy legislative restrictions but decamp to Toronto with the rest of the executive team where nobody worries about what language people do or do not speak and understand.

Have you tried learning a new language as an adult?

Regardless of the merits of the issue proper, at the very least he showed incredibily poor judgement. Did he never figure out how sensitive this issue can be?

I would go as far as having doubts as to his suitability for his job.

We all know it's not necessarily easy. But people do. ( I learned one totally new additional language at 25, and although I had some knowledge of English back from high school I really started to live in English in my late thirties.)

As I mentioned above, I am amazed at how well Ben Smith is doing, accentwise. Accentwise being the truly hard part of the issue for adults.

Several AC executives have a home in Montreal. They are active in charitable causes and are featured in the media. Montreal has always had a robust legal office. Calin was a traveler, but his home was in Montreal. He was known for his running group on Mt.Royal.
Despite the attempt to exploit this for political reasons, the issue here is due in large part to Rousseau's bungling of the issue. PM Harper may not have been the best French speaker, but he managed it well, made an effort, and he was respected for it. That's what's upset some people - the lack of sincerity and smugness. Rousseau didn't make an effort.
The airline has much of the Quebec market and has growth plans for Quebec. This won't help. On the other hand, most people have turned off current events and pay no attention to the news so I will be surprised if much of the population has even heard of mike rousseau or knows what he does. He is more likely to be confused with a hockey player for a prairie farm team than an airline executive.

As an aside, because of this language distraction, coverage of the important comments on the growth and recovery plans were ignored. Some rather important policy/strategy changes were announced.

In fairness, his job is to run an airline. He was selected solely on the basis of his ability to do that, not on his thoughts on issues that are utterly irrelevant to running an airline. This language issue is a political issue; he is not a politician or a public figure. I don�t think his responses are a reflection of his unsuitability for running AC.

As �sensitive� as this issue is, it�s a reality that Canada has two official languages, and he spoke in one of them. Now, if he�d spoken in, say, Icelandic, it would warrant criticism, but the fact is that he didn�t - he spoke in an official language of Canada, in Canada. If that�s causing heartburn for anyone, that�s their problem, not his.

At some point, we need to be clear about what kind of people we want occupying certain roles: the best candidate, or the best bilingual candidate. I don�t know about y�all but if I�m going in for a surgery or getting onto an airplane, my mind is pretty clear: I want the best surgeon or pilot at the helm, not the best bilingual one. The bilingual bit has no bearing.

As for people leaving AC over this�who�re they going to fly instead? TS?