Official Languages committee  Yes, we would hire a francophone, as well. We hire based on merit with a view of trying to hire as many bilingual employees as possible.

Official Languages committee  In the four months that I've been taking lessons, from mid-November until today, it's been approximately 10 hours a week of lessons and homework.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, first of all, I apologize to anyone who was insulted or hurt by the comments made on November 3, whether they are francophones across Canada or anglophones within or outside Quebec. As to the anglophone community in Montreal, I really don't have a perspective at this point in time.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, first of all, it would not take 10 or 15 minutes to find a bilingual employee. As I said earlier, if we can't find a bilingual employee to respond to the customer in the language of their choice, then we can call a special number at the call centre where a francophone employee would respond to the customer.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, I don't disagree that once in a while an employee may respond in English, and that is not our policy: It's not how the employees have been trained. We will continue to think about ways to better deliver that service. We believe the way we have now is fairly efficient—

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, certainly we would love to have a discussion with the relevant departments in the government about recruiting from countries. We have that dialogue already, and I think those discussions are progressing. To your first point, we did bring back the majority of our staff.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, I don't think it does impede my ability to inspire our employees. Certainly, by taking lessons, I hope, as I mentioned earlier, to show an example to all employees. What's important is my commitment and my focus on this very, very important issue, the discussions we have at the executive committee on it and what progress is being made.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, we see it as a competitive advantage. As I mentioned earlier, it is ingrained in our brand, our mission and our equity. The better we do with this, I'm convinced the better we do as a company. That's why there's a strong focus on this area.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, first of all, the percentage of employees at Air Canada who can speak both official languages has stayed the same or increased over the last several years. That is a reflection of our efforts to attempt to recruit and retain as many bilingual employees as possible.

Official Languages committee  One of our key indicators, Mr. Chairman, is the number of complaints per number of customer interactions that we have. That ratio has been dropping. I understand from the commissioner's perspective that he's looking at raw numbers. We look at relative numbers in—

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, let me first of all confirm that even during the darkest days of the pandemic, we were still committed, and we continue to be committed, to training our employees in both official languages. That is one resource we never touched during the pandemic, given its importance to Air Canada and to Canada.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, I do find my response credible. Our performance has been improving on a relative basis over the last several years. We know we can do more. We know we can do better. My objective is to do that. Again, we recently put in some new enhancements. We are encouraged by what's in the draft Bill C-13 regarding immigration and education.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, what I learned is that to participate fully in Quebec society, I need to learn French, and I should have started that earlier in my career at Air Canada. That was a mistake on my part. I'm correcting that at this point in time with relatively intensive lessons. I hope to be able to converse as soon as possible in French with all Air Canada stakeholders, francophone stakeholders, as soon as possible.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, there's no doubt that French is a minority language in North America and it cannot be taken for granted. It needs a sustained effort to ensure that we preserve it. I believe a key strength of Canada is that it is bilingual; it has two official languages. I believe a key strength of Air Canada is that it does promote bilingualism.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, I did not speak to the commissioner myself. I'll defer that question to David Rheault who may have spoken to the commissioner.