(Montreal) The largest rail carrier in the country has pledged to remedy the absence of French-speaking administrators on its board, trying to reassure Quebecers.
Posted at 5:38 p.m.
In a statement in French, the Canadian National Railway Company (CN), based in Montreal, underlined that two members of its board of directors will complete their terms “in the coming months”, which will allow the undertaking to “correct the situation” — even though none of the 11 appointments announced recently had French as their mother tongue.
“The board is highly aware of the issues,” the company added.
Until recently, the board could appoint at least one French-speaking director, former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who resigned to run for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party.
Language issues in the province’s business community came to the fore again in November, following comments from Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau. During a press scrum, the latter made comments, including an admission of his inability to speak French, which sparked an outcry.
CN’s chief executive, Tracy Robinson, said when she was appointed in January that she began taking French language lessons so she could communicate with CN employees and customers and “take full advantage of the experience of life in Quebec”.
Canadian National, like the former Crown corporation Air Canada, is subject to Canada’s Official Languages Act, which requires federal institutions to provide services in English or French upon request.
Although it does not include any French-speaking directors, the board boasts of its diversity in another respect: six of its eleven directors are women, including its chief executive officer.
Before CN’s announcement, the Bloc Québécois had expressed its “great disappointment” at the absence of Francophones on the board of directors.
“It is clear that more and more, French is becoming an optional language in Canada, particularly among companies serving Quebec and which are subject to the Official Languages Act, as is the case with CN or ‘Air Canada, said Bloc official languages critic Mario Beaulieu. Unfortunately, this kind of situation will happen again, as long as Ottawa refuses to leave the field open to Quebec in its desire to subject federal companies to Bill 101.