Air Canada CEO to retire after French-language flub, Carney welcomes move

Highlights:

• Rousseau criticised for failing to use French in Air Canada crash response
• PM Carney praises Rousseau's performance but says his replacement must be bilingual
• Language is sensitive issue in Canada, where French is one of two official tongues

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau will retire by October, the airline said on Monday, after he sparked a backlash for failing to offer condolences in French, one of Canada's two official languages, over a crash that killed two pilots.

Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the move. Last week he said Rousseau had shown a lack of judgement by releasing only an English video after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport over the weekend. Rousseau later issued an apology for the lapse.

"It is absolutely essential that his successor is completely bilingual," Carney told reporters in Toronto.

Language remains a sensitive issue in mostly French-speaking Quebec, the country's second-most populous province, where unhappiness over the dominance of English helped the rise of the separatist Parti Quebecois in the 1970s.

The airline said it was accelerating a plan to replace Rousseau, 68, who will leave by the end of the third quarter. It said candidates to replace him would be judged in part on their ability to speak in French.

"He did a good job technically as CEO but as the leader of an organisation you have broader responsibilities," Carney said. "It's the right decision at the right time."

Rousseau took over as CEO in February 2021 and helped Air Canada recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, while apologising at the time for his poor French. He also faced criticism for his handling of a four-day strike by flight attendants last year.

Air Canada shares fell more than 2% on the Toronto Stock Exchange before recovering partially to trade 1.2% lower.

While Air Canada is a publicly traded company, it is required to provide services in both English and French under the Official Languages Act, which guarantees the public's right to communicate with the company in either language.

Quebec's provincial legislature last week adopted a non-binding motion calling on Rousseau to quit over what lawmakers called his lack of respect for the French language.

An election for the Quebec legislature will be held by October and polls indicate the Parti Quebecois, which wants to break away from Canada, will win most seats.

In 2021, Rousseau apologised and pledged to improve his French after then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticised him for giving a speech almost entirely in English in Montreal, where the airline is headquartered.

Airline CEOs are increasingly expected to address the public following fatal accidents involving their aircraft.