Official Languages Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2026

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

According to Air Canada, what is the acceptable minimum in terms of proficiency in both official languages, but especially French, for a public-facing employee?

Do they need to be able to say, “Bonjour, comment ça va?” Do they need a little more than that?

[David Rheault]

We have four levels of French proficiency. People are tested. A person who has reached level 4 is perfectly bilingual and doesn't need to requalify. A person who has reached level 3 is considered bilingual. The test for level 3 is to be able to translate an unscheduled announcement on one's own. So, if there is an announcement to be made on the plane, the person is able to translate it live without assistance. A person with a level 3 qualification is able to adapt quickly.

A person who has reached level 2 is able to communicate and provide a service, but is not considered bilingual. When we say that 50% of our employees are qualified as bilingual, that means employees with a qualification of level 3 or higher. So they can provide the service, including the unscheduled announcement. When we talk about 65% of employees, that includes employees with a level 2 qualification. They can provide a service, but they're not qualified.

When we assign bilingual staff, we only count employees who have a level 3 or higher qualification, because we feel that's an acceptable standard.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Gourde.

Ms. Chenette, you have the floor for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Sorensen, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the committee and to be able to have a discussion in both languages. We really appreciate it.

You've been on the board of directors since 2006. Your new CEO will assume office in January.

If he asks you why both official languages are important in Canada, what will you tell him?

[Vagn Sorensen]

I would tell him that it's part of the culture and it's part of what Canada is, and I would obviously tell him, as we have done as a matter of fact, about the Official Languages Act, which we're very proud to be part of and subject to and committed to.

Mr. van der Werff will definitely pick up the baton and continue to work on our linguistic plan with the aim of further improving our position as to bilingual services, as I have already discussed with him.

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

Thank you, Mr. Sorensen.

We've asked a lot of questions about what happened in the past, but I'm interested in what will happen in the future. In your opinion, given the current geopolitical situation, the growth of the global francophone market—you talked about new markets you want to develop—and the dynamic in Canada with Prime Minister Carney and what we want to achieve, what more can Air Canada, which has the word “Canada” in its company name, do to strengthen our two official languages across the country?

[Vagn Sorensen]

I think we can always do more, and we will do more. We should do more. We are also measuring how our customers relate to our efforts. We measure that by the number of complaints, and that's come down significantly.

I'd like to get to the first point of your question, which is around developing our route network and so on. The francophone part of the world plays a great role there. Also, as a matter of fact, if you look at how we've balanced our hops—Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver—Montreal is actually the hop that's had the biggest growth. I just looked it up. In 2019, we offered 99 destinations out of Montreal. Now, in September 2026, we offer 120, so there are 21% more destinations offered out of Montreal, and a lot of them are to francophone parts of the world. That is a tremendous piece of aviation infrastructure, which will benefit Canadians and Quebec inhabitants, but also Quebec businesses. I'm proud that we're able to offer such unparalleled aviation infrastructure out of Quebec.

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

Thank you.

I am indeed a proud Quebecker. However, as a Canadian, I know that we want to grow the francophonie across the country. What is your company's role in that? What will you and the board of directors tell your CEO so he understands that developing the francophonie in Canada is an asset for your company? What clear priority will you set for the CEO to ensure that he develops the francophonie across the country?

[Vagn Sorensen]

We see it as a competitive advantage, and it is something we offer with great pride.

We know Canadians want to be served in the official language of their choice. We believe this is good for our business and that our customers appreciate it.

That's why we want to continue to do it: It will increase customer satisfaction, and with customer satisfaction comes more demand, which is obviously good for our company. We want Canadians to be proud of what we do, and this is part of it.

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

I have one last question. Air Canada is an international company. You yourself are Dane. Now, if we want to have a Canadian as CEO, is that something you would consider?

[Vagn Sorensen]

Absolutely. There were also several Canadians in the mix we looked at, and I can reveal that there were also people from Quebec. The choice fell to Mr. van der Werff because he best fit the profile, but it might very well be a Canadian the next time around. Who knows?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Ms. Chenette.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Sorensen, you said that you were very disappointed with Mr. Rousseau's unilingual speech, but according to the media, he subsequently received considerable bonuses, which were $2.6 million in 2023 and $2.3 million in 2022. Are these normal bonuses? Also, was he reprimanded for that speech?

[Vagn Sorensen]

Mr. Rousseau was a good CEO. He's retired now, so I can use the past tense. He contributed to restoring the balance sheet of Air Canada, and he made a safe recovery for Air Canada after the pandemic.

We evaluated. A big part of his pay was a variable component. Different things went into that variable component, including his efforts to learn French. That was probably not the factor that gave him more, but there were other factors that gave him some. He's part of the same compensation concept as all others in management, for which a big part is variable and is dependent on the performance of the company and personal performance.

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

Do you think it's an important skill for a CEO to have to be able to communicate with a significant segment of their company's clientele?

[Vagn Sorensen]

It is an important skill, and that's also why I'm happy that Mr. van der Werff will be able to communicate in French. He will be able to communicate in both official languages, which I consider important for creating followership.

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

I have just one last comment. It's been said that hired employees are learning French, but lose it because they don't use it. Do you think that if Air Canada's internal meetings were held in French and if there were more documentation and communications done in French, language retention among employees would be better?

[Vagn Sorensen]

We'll take that suggestion and discuss internally. Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Sorensen, as chair of Air Canada's board of directors, you hold the highest position in the company. You're like the country's Governor General.

I have a very simple question for you: How does Air Canada handle languages other than English and French aboard its airplanes?

[Vagn Sorensen]

You're talking about the inflight experience, if I'm not mistaken. We have employees who—not the same employee, obviously.... In total, we can offer more than 100 languages. Obviously, we tailor the languages that we offer on a given flight, as much as possible, to the clientele on that flight—i.e., a flight to Bogotá will have Spanish-speaking employees; a flight to Copenhagen will, hopefully, have somebody who speaks Danish; and so on and so forth. We do a lot.

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

I want to know how French is adhered to on Air Canada flights where there's an obligation to offer the service in French.

[Vagn Sorensen]

Yes, we have an obligation, which we're proud of, and we have standards for that also. It's one standard for designated bilingual areas, such as interprovincial—to and from Quebec and French-speaking parts of Ontario, and so on and so forth—and different standards for other flights. That is how we staff our flights: according to these different standards.

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

Mr. Sorensen, in an article published on July 7, your vice-president of communications said that Air Canada invites its aircrews to use a cellphone translation app. Another article talks about using the translation app on an iPad and broadcasting the message on the airplane's speakers.

Do you think that's respecting one of Canada's two founding languages?

[Vagn Sorensen]

I probably don't. I'm not familiar with that specific statement, so I'd rather not comment on it.