Official Languages Committee on April 21st, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I call this meeting to order.

Colleagues, welcome. The meeting is now public.

I'm going to turn the floor over to Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As you know, a few weeks ago, my Liberal colleague moved a motion to invite the president and chief executive officer of Air Canada following his—I will let you fill in the blank—disregard of the French fact and the family of Mr. Forest, the francophone pilot who lost his life, because he did not extend his condolences in the pilot's language. Mr. Rousseau wanted to convey his condolences to the family, but unfortunately, he addressed them in English.

Following that incident and the motion moved by my colleague, the committee unanimously agreed to invite Mr. Rousseau, but he has since announced his retirement. Given that Mr. Rousseau has previously appeared before this committee, I would like to read out the motion I've had on notice since April 14 so that we can take a position on this in committee. I will read the motion in French. Understandably, I couldn't table it earlier because we were in camera for report writing work. However, we're quite familiar with this matter, and all of us here have been following the news. The matter was a bigger issue on April 14 than it is today, but it is still relevant.

That, whereas the President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, has appeared on several occasions before the Standing Committee on Official Languages without demonstrating significant progress in fulfilling his commitments to improve his ability to communicate in French; and, Whereas he has recently announced his upcoming retirement, rendering any future appearance of limited value to the committee's work; That the committee: 1. Cancel its invitation to the current President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada; 2. Invite the next President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f); and, 3. Request that this appearance take place no later than two (2) months following their appointment, in order to allow the committee to assess the new leadership's commitments regarding compliance with official languages obligations.

We cannot change the past. However, the purpose of this motion is to change the future. We want to work with the incoming leadership. We hope the board of directors will make the right decisions and appoint the right person, and that that person will respect Canada's two official languages to help us enhance the relationship between Air Canada's CEO and the various people who use the airline, which is subject to the Official Languages Act.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Okay. The motion has been moved.

I'm going to turn the floor over to Mr. Villeneuve.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have listened to my colleague's arguments keenly. They make sense. However, I would like to propose an amendment to Mr. Godin's motion, to read as follows:

2. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the Standing Committee on Official Languages invite the Chair of the Board of Directors of Air Canada to appear before the committee for a period of one hour to explain the organization's priorities with respect to both official languages in the recruitment of the future President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as in the organization's broader priorities, no later than May 29, 2026.

Mr. Godin, is that okay with you?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Mr. Godin, do you want the floor?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Actually, Mr. Chair, I think the idea is even more compelling. We're stronger when we work as a team, and I think we need to stress that.

Now, there is a matter of procedure. Point 2 of my motion starts with “Invite the next President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, pursuant to Standing Order…”. I suggest my colleague edit his amendment to insert point 2, that the current point 2 becomes point 3, and point 3 becomes point 4. I don't know if you get how it builds up.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Chair, it's very clear for me, and it's fine for us. There's no problem.

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

It's not very clear for me.

You have the floor, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Let me explain, Mr. Chair.

My colleague has proposed an amendment to my motion. First, we all agree on point 1 of my motion. Second, point 2 will be replaced with my colleague's proposal. He can read it once more. It's about inserting the point he's going to read out into my motion. That way, we'll retain the text of my current point 2, but it will have a different number and will now be point 3.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Chair, that's what I wanted to say earlier, but I didn't express myself clearly and I apologize for that. Perhaps that's why you couldn't understand. I wasn't quite clear or clear enough to ensure you could understand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Apparently, you were not clear either, Mr. Villeneuve.

You have the floor.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Chair, I'm now going to read out what will become point 2:

That the committee:

… 2. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f), the Standing Committee on Official Languages invite the Chair of the Board of Directors of Air Canada to appear before the committee for a period of one hour to explain the organization's priorities with respect to both official languages in the recruitment of the future President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as in the organization's broader priorities, no later than May 29, 2026;

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Okay.

You have the floor, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

For clarity, Mr. Chair, I would add that we'll proceed with my colleague's amendment and the new point 2. My point 2 will become point 3 of the motion, and my point 3 will become point 4. I will read it out:

… 3. Invite the next President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(f); and 4. Request that this appearance take place no later than two (2) months following their appointment, in order to allow the committee to assess the new leadership's commitments regarding compliance with official languages obligations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Okay. I will now consult with the procedural clerk.

My understanding is that Mr. den Ouden, who is our clerk today, has distributed a motion and I think it reflects what Mr. Villeneuve and Mr. Godin have just told me. I would therefore request committee members to check their emails to see if the version is accurate.

I see all of you are nodding. That's great.

I've consulted with the clerk, and I'll summarize where things stand.

First, Mr. Godin moved a motion. Then Mr. Villeneuve moved an amendment, which is now point 2 of the amended motion. Right now, we're working on the amendment. If we adopt the amendment, we can move to the full motion as amended.

Are there any comments on the amendment?

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

We'll now move to the motion as amended. Are there any comments?

You have the floor, Mr. Beaulieu.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Chair, the Bloc Québécois will definitely support this motion.

However, I would like to point out the following: Members of the federal, federalist and national parties get all worked up whenever there is a scandal like the one pertaining to Mr. Rousseau. They find it appalling and say that it should not happen again, but this has been happening again and again for the past 50 years due to the system in place. Meanwhile, they support full institutional bilingualism in Quebec and funding for anglophone lobby groups that constantly want more services in English, everywhere and for everyone.

Basically, they want people to live fully in English without ever speaking French, as Mr. Rousseau bragged. He said he had lived in Montreal for 14 years without speaking French. In his opinion, that reflects well on Montreal.

I believe that unless the system changes, there will be other Michael Rousseaus just about anywhere in Quebec. I believe Quebec needs to be independent to ensure the future of French. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

You have the floor, Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, I'd like to say that as stated when the motion was initially moved, it would have been a good idea to invite CEO Rousseau before the committee. It's a matter of accountability. He was the CEO, the chief executive of Air Canada when the incidents occurred, and that reflected a pattern. It was not the first incident within the past five years.

It would have been worthwhile to have Mr. Rousseau appear before the committee to have a better understanding of the internal systems, or rather, the lack of certain procedures that may result in non-compliance of one of our official languages, and to ask him questions about some of the decisions that have been taken during his tenure. The goal is not to focus our remarks on the past, but to gain a better understanding of the systems or issues that make these things happen and to plan for the future.

I'm also thinking about decisions that have been rescinded or abandoned, particularly with regard to services for Acadian communities in northern New Brunswick. I didn't get a satisfactory answer from Air Canada employees when they appeared before the committee, and I would have liked to put these questions directly to the CEO who was in charge at the time.

That said, I think the amendment moved by my colleague Louis Villeneuve is a valuable contribution. This matter allows us to focus on the future, and as such, I will support the motion, in spite of the aspects I have just mentioned.

I think we're being proactive, particularly with respect to the invitation to the chair of the board of directors. We will ask them questions at the front end. We can ask them what they think the language requirements should be, whether the next CEO should be proficient in French and whether this will be one of the hiring criteria. We're taking a proactive approach. We'll ask the board of directors' representative these questions directly. We're also turning to the future to understand future priorities.

I will therefore support the amendment proposed by my colleague Mr. Villeneuve to the motion moved by Mr. Godin, but I still wanted to say that I would have liked to have the current CEO appear before the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault.

You have the floor, Ms. Chenette.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to emphasize that, collectively, around this table, what we really want is for our corporations, such as Air Canada, to be fully committed to providing all their services in both official languages.

We cannot change the past, but we can learn from past mistakes. That is why I fully support this motion.

First, we want to hear from the chair of the board of directors. We're referring to the chair of the board, but since an annual general meeting is coming up, it could be either a male or female chair. We'll leave it to let the general meeting to choose its chair.

Second, it's important to secure a clear commitment from the chair of the board of directors in May regarding how crucial bilingualism is as a key factor in the recruitment of the CEO and in the organization's strategic direction. This is an expectation the board has of the CEO. Thus, when the new CEO comes to testify before the committee upon taking office next fall, they will be able to explain to us in concrete terms how they will fulfill these commitments and express this in both languages, English and French.

Those are our expectations. That is why it's important that we work together to ensure a better future at Air Canada for our fellow Canadian citizens.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Ms. Chenette.

You have the floor, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you Mr. Chair.

I think we're all on the same page about the future.

We have a lot to gain on all sides. However, my only concern is about the current CEO. I hope that our position here on the Standing Committee on Official Languages will put the necessary pressure on the board of directors. We don't have any guarantee that the current president and chief executive officer will step down in September. The exact date of his departure has not been announced. He has publicly announced that it will be in September. I hope they will not pull a fast one on us by extending his term and keeping the current president at the helm of the corporation due to a lack of candidates or procedural issues. We'll have to revisit this issue if that were to happen.

Furthermore, this does not rule out the possibility that if this president is still at the helm of Air Canada in October, we will have to reconsider our approach to apply pressure to ensure Air Canada complies with both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

You have the floor, Mr. Bélanger.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

I have some questions about our mandate—specifically, whether we're overstepping it. I'm not sure it's up to us to decide who Air Canada hires. I think we're well positioned to require the company to provide services in both official languages, but I don't think we're in a position to tell an organization what it must do.

I'm just curious, and I'd like to hear your comments.