Installed in Quebec since 2007 after being recruited by Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, at the controls of the air carrier since last February, would like to master French, but pleads that his schedule prevents him – a statement that surprises the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM), which welcomed the businessman to its forum.
His priority, he says, is to “bring Air Canada back to where it was” before the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely shaken the commercial aviation sector, he said on Wednesday in margin of an address in the House.
“If you see my schedule […] you would understand that this is what I have to concentrate on, ”said Rousseau, during a press scrum with journalists.
The approximately 25-minute speech by the president and CEO of the country’s largest airline was conducted almost exclusively in the language of Shakespeare, with the exception of a curtain-raising phrase as well as a few words at the moment to end it.
Air Canada was the target of much criticism in the political sphere when Quebecor media reported that Mr. Rousseau would only speak in English to those in the room. The CCMM has also been singled out.
Its president and chief executive officer, Michel Leblanc, did not hide his astonishment after noting that the president of Air Canada had not made a commitment to learn the language of Molière.
“I was surprised to see that the speech included very little French,” he told reporters. It is clear that for us, a president who would move to Madrid, who does not know Spanish, should commit to recognizing that it is the right thing to do to learn it. It is the same in Quebec. “
It was Mr. Rousseau’s first speech before the CCMM since he took over from Calin Rovinescu at the head of the airline. Mr. Rousseau essentially testified to the progress made by the company since the initial shock of the health crisis.