News
Air Canada CEO was nearing retirement, but language gaffe forced his hand
Published: 7 April 2026
After two Air Canada pilots were killed in an accident at New York鈥檚 LaGuardia Airport, the company鈥檚 CEO Michael Rousseau put out condolence message,聽but the message was only in English.
The omission of French by the unilingual Rousseau touched off a firestorm, with thousands of complaints made to Canada鈥檚 Official Languages Commissioner.
Ultimately, Rousseau聽resigned. He had held senior positions at Air Canada since聽2007,聽Prof. Karl Moore told the Montreal Gazette聽that聽the uproar聽probably pushed聽his retirement聽forward聽a bit. 鈥淪ome of the political leaders in Quebec got carried away calling for his head,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淏ut they were right that he made a mistake. It showed a lack of judgment.鈥澛�
