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.