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After receiving criticism for the accident condolence video, the CEO of Air Canada resigns.

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SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS

Following criticism for his English-only condolence message sent to Air Canada earlier this month following the deadly plane crash in New York, the company has announced that its CEO, Michael Rousseau, may retire after this year.

The board of directors of Canada’s largest airport, which is based in French-speaking Quebec, learned on Monday that Rousseau had told the company he would leave by the end of the third quarter.

Airport employees inspect the remains of the Air Canada plane, with the bones of the fire truck visible to the left. AP

Prime Minister Mark Carney claimed that the official linguistic message from Canada showed a lack of sympathy and judgment, even though the country is actually bilingual.

” We happily reside in a bilingual society, and businesses like Air Canada especially have a responsibility to communicate in both official language, regardless of the circumstance,” Carney told reporters.

One of the two planes killed in the collision at LaGuardia Airport, Antoine Forest, was a French-speaking Quebecer. Forest and Mackenzie Gunther passed away on March 22 when a fire truck and Air Canada Dance collided on the runway shortly after taking off from Montreal.

The headquarters of Canada’s largest flight is in Montreal. Rousseau, 68, had formerly been criticized for never speaking French.

With European captions, he delivered his sympathy digital communication in English with only “bonjour” at the beginning and “merci” at the end.

The National Assembly’s 92 to 0 vote in favor of a movement requesting Rousseau’s departure sparked a uproar in Quebec.

Additionally, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Language received lots of concerns about it.

” I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound anguish of the people and the remarkable tenacity of Air Canada’s employees, who have consistently displayed remarkable expertise in spite of the events of the past several days,” Rousseau said in a speech last year.

” However, I am still unable to express myself sufficiently in French despite several lessons over the course of several years. I apologize in full for this, but I’m making every effort to get better.

According to the most recent regulatory filing, Rousseau received$ 13.1 million ($ 13.74 million ) last year.

Air Canada stated that the committee has been conducting inheritance arranging for more than two years and that it launched an international search in January.

The airline stated that the panel will take into account a number of performance standards when evaluating candidates, including the ability to speak in French.

In a social media post, Canada’s transport secretary, Steven MacKinnon, thanked Rousseau and said the government would continue to work with Air Canada to ensure that it “provides secure, trusted, affordable, and fluent support to all Canadians.”

François Legault, the premier of Quebec, noted that Rousseau promised to study French when he was appointed chairman of the airline in February 2021.

Rousseau delivered a speech to Montreal business leaders about totally in English quickly after being appointed CEO in 2021. He later expressed some pride in being able to live in Montreal for more than a decade without speaking French, which sparked anger in Quebec. He also apologised that day.

Since the 1760s, when the British finished their occupation of what was then known as New France, Quebec’s identification has been in dispute. Quebec has about 80 % of its speakers speaking French.

Bloomberg and AP

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