'Lack of judgement & compassion': Mark Carney slams Air Canada CEO for English-only crash speech

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the decision by Air Canada's top executive to post an English-only message of condolence after a deadly crash in New York, insisting that the move showed "lack of judgment, a lack of compassion”.

The airline's chief has been facing calls for resignation after the crash. The outrage was renewed due to fears about linguistic rights protections in the province of Quebec, where French is the only official language. Two pilots were killed in the fatal crash that took place late Sunday when a fire truck collided with an Air Canada Express flight landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport.

The next day, Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau shared a four-minute condolence video online, saying he was deeply saddened by the loss of life and said the collision was a “very dark day” for Air Canada. However, the speech was only delivered in English and included just two words, “bonjour” and “merci”.

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People called out the fact that Rousseau did not speak French, a language spoken by both his mother and wife, and roughly 80 per cent of the population of Quebec. When he assumed the job back in 2021, he pledged to learn the language, but months later, he prompted angry protests when he addressed the Montreal Chamber of Commerce in English.

Air Canada goes into damage control mode

On Wednesday, Air Canada, an airline carrier based in Montreal, released a statement stating that Rousseau wanted to address “everyone affected by the tragedy, whether directly or indirectly”, himself.

“He therefore recorded a message as a matter of priority before departing on a flight for the crash site. Despite his efforts, his ability to express himself in French does not allow him to convey such a sensitive message in that language as he would wish," it said.

The Airline mentioned that the video in question included French subtitles, and all available information was communicated in both official languages on the Air Canada website. However, the remarks did not satisfy federal ministers, who have summoned him to the official languages committee to “explain himself” to lawmakers.

Carney reacts

The Canadian Prime Minister also issued a statment on the matter, insisting that the message could have been communicated in both official languages.

“We proudly live in a bilingual country. There are two official languages here, and Air Canada has a special responsibility, whatever the situation, to communicate in both official languages,” Carney said. “I am extremely disappointed by the message released by the CEO of Air Canada. It shows a lack of compassion, and we will be closely following his comments before the official languages committee as well as the comments coming from the board of Air Canada.”

Interestingly, Canada’s languages commissioner usually receives 100 complaints about the airline each year. As of Wednesday morning, the commissioner said it received nearly 800 complaints about the video. The two pilots killed in the collision were Antoine Forest from Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, and Mackenzie Gunther, a 2023 alumnus of Toronto’s Seneca Polytechnic.

Meanwhile, Mélanie Joly, the industry minister, joined the criticism, saying many of the victims and their families were francophones. “It is a question of moral leadership,” Joly said. “If he still doesn’t speak French today, it’s disrespectful to his employees and to his francophone customers, so yes, I think that if he doesn’t speak French, he should resign,” François Legault, the Quebec premier, told reporters.