Complaints are piling up at the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages over the speech almost exclusively in English given by Air Canada boss Michael Rousseau before the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal on Wednesday.
Commissioner Raymond Théberge revealed to Press received 60 complaints Thursday noon and he expected there would be more during the day. “This is an indication of how keen the reaction has been,” he said in an interview. That’s a lot for a single incident. ”
He will have to determine over the next few days whether they are admissible under the Official Languages Act. They are likely to be, according to him, under section 4 of this legislation on the communication of federal institutions with the public.
Air Canada has a bad reputation for providing services in French. Between 2015 and 2020, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages received an average of 85 complaints per year. This high number is a sign of “a systemic problem” within the air carrier, according to Théberge.
The president and CEO of Air Canada raised the controversy Wednesday by affirming on the sidelines of his speech that he had been able to live in Montreal for 14 years without learning French. His remarks aroused the anger of the political class in Quebec and Ottawa.
The New Democratic Party demanded Thursday the resignation of Michael Rousseau, in office since April 2021. MP Alexandre Boulerice described his remarks as “contemptuous” of Francophones.
More details to come.