Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds it “unacceptable” that the Canadian National Railway Company (CN), based in Montreal, has not retained any French-speaking candidate for its board of directors. Faced with the controversy, the country’s largest rail carrier pledged at the end of the day to remedy the situation.
“I’ll be honest. I was amazed to hear this situation, that a company like CN, a national company, subject to federal rules, subject to the Official Languages Act, did not see what happened at Air Canada and did not learn the lesson, which seemed to me to be quite obvious, ”said Mr. Trudeau Thursday during a press conference.
“I understand how frustrated people are, so am I,” he added.
Although he said he believed that the country’s Francophones should sit on all the boards of directors of all major national companies, Mr. Trudeau refused to say whether the new version of the Official Languages Act should include terms on the composition of these groups of administrators.
Mr. Trudeau said he asked one of his ministers “to ensure that CN works quickly to rectify the situation”.
In a statement in French sent at the end of the afternoon, CN pointed out that two members of its board of directors will complete their terms “in the coming months”, which will allow the company to “correct the situation”. — even though none of the 11 people whose appointment was recently announced 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.
Recent outcry
Language issues in the province’s business community came to the fore again in November, following comments made by Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau. During a press scrum, the latter had made statements – including the admission of his inability to speak French – which had triggered an outcry.
CN’s chief executive, Tracy Robinson, said in January, upon her appointment, that she had started taking French 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 and 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” regarding 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 that [font affaire au] Quebec and which are subject to the Official Languages Act, as is the case of CN or Air Canada, declared the Bloc Québécois spokesperson for official languages, 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.