Air Canada’s CEO Michael Rousseau put the cat among the pigeons Wednesday when he addressed the Chamber of Commerce in English then showed himself unable to respond to media questions in French after 14 years of living in Montreal (and despite having a French surname of some renown).
Update: Rousseau has apologized and promised he will learn French now.
It seems like the deepest insult was when Rousseau said that his ability to live here only in English was “a testament to the city of Montreal” which is only going to inflame feeling that Montreal is not French enough.
thomas 02:32 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
The guy has lived for 14 years in Montreal and he never got the message that saying it is unnecessary to speak French in Quebec would be a red-flag to the media? An example, of how the privilege of wealth allows one to dwell in ignorance?
Kate 07:05 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Yes. The main thing here is that he’d be stupid enough not to realize that being quoted as saying he hadn’t needed French and hadn’t found time to learn it in 14 years would be considered an outrage. The media are vibrating with the story on Thursday morning, both regular and social.
Jack 07:53 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Rousseau’s absolute ignorance means that Blokes here are going to have to live with the blowback. I know this just happened and predicting the future is a fools game but this could easily be a Donald Gordon moment. Quebecor will keep this alive forever not just 5 news cycles and the cost of this will be felt when Bill 98 goes through its final readings. Will Legault be tempted to “toughen” the law? I hope I’m wrong.
Daniel 08:18 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Spot on, thomas. With enough money, you can live anywhere in the world in just about any language (but, yes, especially English). But hoo boy, all the money in the world can’t buy you the smarts not to stick your designer-clad foot in your mouth. We knew this, but … ugh
jeather 08:57 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
What an idiot. Of course it’s not that hard to live here in only English — especially if you feel comfortable with a basic level of reading and listening, but less comfortable speaking or writing, and also have a lot of money — but as the CEO of Air Canada, surely you should know not to say that out loud. Hard to get out of fourteen years living here without learning enough to answer basic questions at a press conference.
walkerp 09:30 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
He is an entitled idiot, but it also does show how deep and pervasive english power still is here. He himself seems to come from francophone roots and has completely separated himself from them. It’s kind of shocking. I can understand why french-canadians would be feeling really colonized right now.
jeather 09:38 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
No, look. They’re not being colonized. They’re right to be upset and angry and horrified. But the French were colonizers, not colonized.
steph 09:44 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Why would french-canadians care about “Air Canada”? Anything with the word “canada” comes with knee jerk rejection anyways. Quebecers are proud of their home brewed Transat, founded by Papa Legault. (fleet size comparisons: Air Transat has a fleet of 31 aircraft, vs Air Canada with a fleet of 161 aircrafts)
walkerp 09:52 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Let’s not make a bet out of this, jeather, but it can be both. And there are degrees. The french were colonizers but the quebeckers they became for sure got colonized.
Steph, Air Canada has a special legal mandate that gives it the right to hold monopoly controls over airports and flights and part of what comes with that is an official bilingual status. It also has a strong history in Quebec and much of its workforce is here, so it is very reasonable for people to be pissed off that the boss does not speak french.
As an anglophone living in Quebec and working out of a Quebec office of a national org, I can tell you it makes a huge difference to have actual francophones in leadership. Even issues of equality aside, leaders who don’t speak french make terrible strategic and financial decisions and priorities because they don’t understand how things work on the ground here.
Tim 10:03 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
“He is an entitled idiot, but it also does show how deep and pervasive english power still is here.”
Can you provide any examples of this “english power” that you speak of walkerp? I do not think that a national company that is unsuccessful with their Quebec operations due to cultural barriers qualifies. If anything, it shows the power of the culture.
This whole situation just demonstrates how the affluent residents of Westmount, where I assume the CEO lives, can live in an English bubble apart from the rest of Montreal, let alone the province. I cannot envision extrapolating that experience anywhere else in the city or province.
jeather 10:09 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
I’m not here to say that the English treated the French well, but they were still not colonized. That’s not the right term, and it’s also often used as a way to ignore the colonization BY the French. We otherwise agree, I think.
walkerp 10:35 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Yes, I realized as I was typing it that “colonized” might not be the right word, as it was not the same phenomenon, since both cultures were arrivistes in one way or another.
Steph, yes I do agree that a large factor here is simply class and wealth. I don’t know though how you can’t see the wealth and power of english Westmount as not being a prime example right there. Are there any neighbourhoods in Toronto or Calgary or Vancouver that are dominantly french and filled with francophone captains of industry for big national companies?
Joey 10:37 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
He lives in St Lambert.
Leaving aside the value of the CEO of Air Canada being able to speak and understand French (which, to me, duh it’s so obvious), if the focus of the way a business is perceived is a major shortcoming of the CEO that angers a huge proportion of the customer base, just how amazing does he have to be at business to justify his employment?
Uatu 10:51 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
What a clod. And it isn’t only blokes who get shit. Visible minorities like me have to listen to insecure jerks and we don’t even have to say anything. At least White people can get away with just shutting up because who knows you’re a bloke if you don’t say anything
qatzelok 13:43 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Incredible that he make 100 times as much as a flight attendant.
Meezly 15:00 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
@jeather, @walkerp. Perhaps hegemonized is a more appropriate word.
Robert H 15:08 on 2021-11-04 Permalink
Jack, vous avez tellement raison.
Uatu, tell me all about it. Minorité visible? C’est moi!
Merci Michael Rousseau (Rousseau!)! Nationalistes, indépendantistes, nativistes ? Vous venez de leur offrir un beau gros cadeau avec un ruban blanc et des petits autocollants bleus à fleurs de lys.
Meezly, vous avez trouvé le mot juste.
Frances 07:14 on 2021-11-05 Permalink
family name: Rousseau
parents: both francophone
You’d think Air Canada’s CEO would speak French.
hmmmm….. What’s the childhood story regarding that?
Frances 07:26 on 2021-11-05 Permalink
correction …..
“My wife is French-speaking, my mother is French-speaking….”
https://time.news/unilingualism-of-michael-rousseau-angry-legault-challenges-the-air-canada-board/