Official Languages committee  First let me say that I'm disappointed that you don't feel that support, with 90% of our executive in Quebec and two-thirds of our executives across North America speaking French. Yes, I am from Alberta, and it is a great honour for me to sit in this position with CN. I have com

Official Languages committee  I must tell you that I am aware that we are in discussions around the bridge in Quebec City. At this point in time, with my tenure here, I can't give you any details around the nature of those discussions or any timing associated with that.

Official Languages committee  I am certainly in the middle of classes, and I think that the right way to learn French is not just to take classes but to immerse yourself in French. I'm surrounded by French here. I'm surrounded by French employees. In my courses, I practise my French every day. For example, I

Official Languages committee  Whether or not it's a requirement, 90% of our senior executives in Quebec speak French. I think we are demonstrating that we are very supportive. We take the language very seriously. We operate a North American organization. English will always be part of our company, but in Queb

Official Languages committee  Right now, it's a very active part of what we do in the company every day. As I said, I'm surrounded each day, in the Montreal head office, by very active, French-speaking, passionate.... French is part of our day-to-day dialogue here. Certainly, we speak English as required, but

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for his question. What I'm offering is a commitment to appoint a francophone director from Quebec in the very near future. That's a priority for me and for the board. What I offer to you is a firm commitment on the actions we are taking to

Official Languages committee  I would tell you that we have on our board of directors right now, three members who speak French. Two of us are working hard to become bilingual. We will be appointing a francophone, Quebec-based member of the board shortly. They also will obviously speak French. It's been a lo

Official Languages committee  I think that this company has done a very strong job of embracing the French language, being actively headquartered in Montreal and very active, supportive and a leader in supporting the French language in this province and, I hope, in this country. I want to be someone who not

Official Languages committee  Yes, I have been made aware of the situation. Monsieur Sébastien Labbé, as you note, speaks French very well. We're not perfect. I think, if he were doing that again, he would make his prepared remarks in French, but I am also aware that he was able and did respond in French to

Official Languages committee  Yes indeed, and we are hiring unilingual francophones. We have almost 3,400 employees in Quebec. We have many employees in our operations department who operate in parts of the province that, as you suggest, speak only French, and we have many of these employees who speak only Fr

Official Languages committee  If that is true, it's completely unacceptable. It hasn't been my sense since I've been with this company that there would be any reprisals for things like that. We need to create.... It's very important that we—

Official Languages committee  If the question is whether I am aware of how Quebeckers feel, I am aware. I've read...and I've had people approach me. I am aware that this hasn't been a positive thing for members of the Quebec community, and indeed some of our employees. It's certainly not what we want in CN,

Official Languages committee  The internal review will be done fairly quickly. For the external review, as we have established the mandate, we are looking to the legal firm we have engaged to fully outline the time they need. We will give them the time to ensure that they can review our practices and our poli

Official Languages committee  I would say that, as I come into this company, I am observing a great deal of respect for the French language and support, not only in its usage every day, but in the discussions around how to use it. I'm surrounded by French in my work, whether it be at the head office here in M

Official Languages committee  Thank you for that very important question. The matter is not around finding a francophone director that's based in Quebec. The matter is choosing the francophone director that is based in Quebec. The search firm we have engaged on this topic is reviewing a large number of ca