The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada had received at the end of the day Thursday more than 200 complaints in connection with the speech only in English of the CEO of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau.
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The carrier is usually only subject to about 80 complaints per year.
“When we were made aware of the speech by the President of Air Canada, we contacted the Air Canada offices to encourage them to, perhaps, review the speech,” said the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge.
“But the reality is that no changes were made to the rhetoric. And subsequently we received a significant number of complaints. ”
Mr. Rousseau’s unilingual speech, then his outing on the fact that he had never had to learn French to live in Montreal and that he did not have a work schedule allowing him to learn it, have aroused strong reactions in Quebec, but also in Ottawa.
The CEO of Air Canada apologized for his remarks Thursday morning, without convincing many people.
Thus, the Legault government as well as the oppositions denounced Michael Rousseau’s contempt for French.