Air Canada’s CEO is retiring amid backlash for his video message, in which he shared condolences only in English last week after the deadly LaGuardia crash.
Air Canada says its CEO, Michael Rousseau, plans to retire. His retirement comes amid backlash for his video message response to the deadly crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport earlier this month. Here’s what to know: Two Air Canada pilots were killed last week when their jet collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The next day, the airline’s CEO, Michael Rousseau, responded and expressed his condolences in a video message on social media. RELATED: Timeline reveals final seconds before LaGuardia crashHis statement was not well-received and was met with criticism from the country’s prime minister, Mark Carney. Carney said Rousseau showed a lack of compassion and judgment by speaking only in English, and called on him to resign. "We proudly live in a bilingual country. There are two official languages here and Air Canada has a special responsibility to communicate whatever the situation in both official languages," Carney said.The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages said it had received hundreds of complaints about Rousseau’s video.Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, where French is the primary language. Antoine Forest, one of the two pilots killed in the crash, was a French-speaking Quebecer.Rousseau has reportedly been criticized before for not speaking French, and reportedly promised to learn the language when he was appointed president of Canada’s largest airline. His video message included subtitles in both English and French. The four-minute video included two French words - "bonjour" and "merci."Air Canada announced Monday that Rousseau will retire later this year. He reportedly told the board he will leave by the end of the third quarter. Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s transport minister, thanked Rousseau in a social media post and said the government will continue to work closely with Air Canada to ensure it "provides safe, reliable, affordable, and bilingual service to all Canadians."
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