Official Languages Committee on May 28th, 2026

[Lyne Chayer]

I'll let my colleague answer that question.

[Tristan Joanette, Legal Counsel, WestJet Airlines Ltd.]

The short answer is no. Without going into details about how we operate at WestJet, the different departments have different budgets. Various departments already have regulatory compliance budgets. Some will need to revise their budgets in light of the new regulatory obligations. We have an Excel spreadsheet with everything that needs to be done to comply with the new regulations, but we haven't put figures on the items yet.

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

I'll ask you one last question because time is running out.

You're in a very competitive market and you don't have the same status as Air Canada in terms of obligations. You have obligations, but Air Canada has more. Is not being fully subject to the Official Languages Act a competitive advantage for you?

[Tristan Joanette]

To answer that, I'll simply say that Parliament made the decision to treat the two carriers differently.

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

Is it an advantage for you?

[Tristan Joanette]

Obviously, Air Canada's background is very different from WestJet's. The advantage for us is to offer the service in French. Any service we offer in French is an advantage. At WestJet, we see it as an investment, something important that allows us to reach the francophone market.

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

You see it as a way to attract French-speaking guests.

[Tristan Joanette]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I now give the floor to Mr. El‑Khoury for six minutes.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the witnesses.

Ms. Chayer, in your opening remarks, you said that we need to continue promoting both languages here. Can you give us an example of what you're doing within your company to promote both languages?

Let's say one of your employees would like to learn French or another would like to improve their French. Could you offer these individuals French lessons? If not, would you promise to work toward offering these services?

[Lyne Chayer]

A process to advance French is under way within the company. The examples I gave are things we've been implementing since May of last year. We still have several steps to go through.

We're working in two phases. The first phase involved everything external, everything guest-related, meaning in flight, at airports, on the website and so forth. It was completed as a priority. We then did some internal work. Internally, we are ensuring that we have a francization committee. We've spoken with our various union partners. Among other things, we're in the process of applying to the Office québécois de la langue française for WestJet, in Quebec.

In response to your question, we're currently looking at training. We're definitely trying to hire bilingual staff, but we do know that unilingual anglophones at head office are interested in learning French. We're currently having that discussion internally with our human resources department.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

I hope your discussion will lead to a francization service and access to English skills training for people who want to improve.

Mr. Joanette, let's talk about established rights. Let's consider a flight going from Vancouver or Calgary to Ottawa. Who do these rights apply to? Do they apply to flight attendants, passengers or both? I'd like you to explain it to me.

[Tristan Joanette]

Currently, under the Official Languages Act, airport passenger services must be offered in both English and French. This obligation applies to airport authorities, but the airport authorities impose the obligation on air carriers.

In the example you gave, if someone arrives at the counter in Vancouver, they have the right to be served in French. As for a Vancouver-Calgary flight, there would be no service in French because the cities are not designated areas. However, for the second leg of the flight, from Calgary to Ottawa, inflight service would be available in French, because Ottawa is in a designated area. Departing from Vancouver, service at the airport would be in French. At the Calgary airport, service would be in French. Upon arrival in Ottawa, service would be in French. In flight, service would be available in French between Calgary and Ottawa.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

I'd like to have a bit more detail about when it starts and when it ends, for example, for other flights in Canada.

[Tristan Joanette]

Under the regulations we're looking at today, all flights departing from and arriving in Quebec will be subject to obligations. If you're on a flight departing from or arriving in Quebec, you will be served in French on board the flight.

As for the other regions, in the case of our flights to Sudbury, North Bay, Fredericton and Moncton, those destinations are in designated areas. Services will therefore be offered in French on all flights from Calgary to those four cities. Obviously, they will be offered on all flights to Quebec.

[Lyne Chayer]

I'd like to add something, if I may.

Even if inflight service isn't offered in French, our pre-recorded messages are always bilingual, in English and French, for our French-speaking guests. Everything related to safety and inflight service announcements is always bilingual on all of our flights.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Ms. Chayer, what do you think of the new regime that the Government of Canada is proposing to impose on federally regulated private businesses?

[Lyne Chayer]

Do you mean the regulations we're discussing today?

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Yes.

[Lyne Chayer]

As I said in my opening remarks, we welcome the regulations and strongly support them.

We're just asking for some flexibility to be built in so that we can implement them. We've already been preparing for this for several months, knowing that they will come into effect in Quebec much sooner than outside Quebec. We'll have two years for the other designated areas.

That said, it takes a lot of preparation for a business to comply with the regulations, especially in the airline industry, where things change rapidly and we're subject to many federal requirements, such as Transport Canada's. We certainly appreciate having the opportunity to discuss this with you today; we'd just like to have the time to implement the various obligations in our company.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Mr. El‑Khoury, your time is up. Thank you very much.

I now give the floor to Mr. Beaulieu for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Chayer, I was looking at the press review. In 2024, not so long ago, Richard Martineau said that he wasn't able to obtain service in French from WestJet. Your response was that you weren't required to provide bilingual services.

Do you feel that there's been significant improvement since 2024? What have you done to change the situation?

[Lyne Chayer]

I don't quite remember what happened with Mr. Martineau, to be honest. Actually, it depends on whether he flew with Sunwing or WestJet.

That said, from 2024 to now, I'd say that a lot has changed. As I mentioned earlier, WestJet was obviously based more in western Canada at the time, so most flight attendants were from Calgary. Since then, we've acquired Sunwing, which has given us access to bilingual employees in Quebec, who will be able to serve passengers in French on board our flights. WestJet now has a pool of flight attendants that it didn't have in 2024.