The senior management of Canadian National (CN), a federally chartered company whose head office is located in Montreal and which is subject to the Official Languages Act, decided that there would be no Francophones on its board of directors.
In its circular sent to shareholders for its annual meeting on May 20, CN indicates that it will propose three new candidates to fill vacancies on its board of directors, which is made up of 11 members. None of the candidates is French-speaking, just like the eight members whose mandate is renewed. Appointed in January, Jean Charest bowed out to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Another Francophone, Julie Godin, senior executive of the IT consulting firm CGI, left the carrier’s board last fall.
This choice to shun all Francophones appears deliberate. CN executives could not ignore the controversy aroused last November by Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau’s insensitivity to the French fact in Quebec. CN shows us that it really doesn’t care.
The Legault government had already warned CN management that the absence of Francophones in its senior management would pose a problem. The Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, which is a major shareholder in the company, reacted to the absence of French-speaking candidates for directorships. CN management cannot plead ignorance.
Last January, CN appointed Tracy Robinson, a unilingual English-speaking Albertan, as CEO, replacing Jean-Jacques Ruest, who was retiring and who was bilingual. However, in a letter sent last fall to the Chairman of the Board of CN, Robert Pace, the Minister of Transport of Quebec, François Bonnardel, had warned the company that the appointment of a CEO fluent in French was “required”. Obviously, the letter had no effect.
That the best candidate for the position of CEO is an English speaker is one thing. But for CN to tell us that it could not find competent French-speaking Quebecers for its board of directors is insulting. The composition of a board of directors of a large company like CN must include different expertise and qualities. One of its qualities would no doubt reflect the fact that CN is a company based in Montreal, run for years by francophones, moreover, and which, moreover, is subject to the Official Languages Act.
Of course, this alleged inability to recruit qualified francophones reminds us of CN president Donald Gordon, who in 1962 declared that no French Canadian had the skills to fill even one of the 17 vice president of the company.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “blown away” that a “national” company like CN, subject to the Official Languages Act, had not “learned the lesson” after the disappointment of Air Canada. . However, neither the Official Languages Act nor the Bill C-13 tabled in March to strengthen it contain any requirement concerning the composition of the boards of directors of federally chartered companies.
In addition, deliberations within the CN board, as at Air Canada, take place exclusively in English. The Francophone on duty is not there to work in his language. Moreover, if Jean Charest had embodied this francophone service at CN, it is with the anglophone that the members of the council would have exchanged, the candidate for the conservative leadership, of English mother tongue, being perfectly bilingual.
While the presence on the CN board of French-speaking Quebecers is above all symbolic—symbols are important, however—the situation is different for CN’s French-speaking workers, who are threatened because they intend to work in their language in Quebec and eastern Canada, according to the Teamsters union, which sent a letter of grievances to CEO Tracy Robinson earlier this month.
Contrary to Air Canada, which nevertheless has people in the flesh as customers, CN serves companies, many of which are American. Because they provide an essential public service, these major railway companies have a historic right to cause inconvenience to many people. This may explain CN’s indifference to pressure of all kinds, including from governments. As we have seen for the maintenance of the Quebec Bridge and the negotiations surrounding its eventual sale, this independence can result in a form of contempt for the population and the public authorities.