Michael Rousseau gives a speech at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce in 2021. The Air Canada CEO will retire later this year, the company said on Monday.Mario Beauregard/The Canadian Press
Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau is leaving the company after setting off a political and public relations storm with an English-only video about the plane crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which cost the lives of two pilots.
Mr. Rousseau, 68, will retire by the end of September, the airline said in a news release Monday. He’ll continue to lead the company and serve on the board of directors until that time, the carrier said.
The CEO has sparked outrage and indignation in Quebec and Ottawa over his inability or unwillingness to speak French despite committing years ago to learning the language. Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal and subject to Canada’s Official Languages Act, meaning it has to communicate in both languages on important matters.
Last week, Mr. Rousseau drew heavy criticism for a video uploaded to the airline’s website in which he expressed his “deepest sorrow for everyone affected” by the LaGuardia Airport accident and provided a factual update of the situation. He said only two words in French in the nearly four-minute video: “Bonjour” at the start and “merci” at the end.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau will retire by the end of the third quarter, the airline said on Monday, in the wake of a recent backlash for offering condolences after a fatal crash in English and not in French, one of the country's two official languages.
Reuters
Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said last week Mr. Rousseau’s video showed “a lack of empathy and a lack of sensitivity,” given that some of the victims and their families are French-speaking. Prime Minister Mark Carney said it lacked judgment and compassion.
On Monday, Mr. Carney said it is “essential” Air Canada’s next CEO is bilingual. “Recent events have underscored the importance of that,” Mr. Carney told reporters, calling Mr. Rousseau’s looming retirement “the right decision at the right time.”
Air Canada’s board of directors was under heavy pressure to address the ballooning crisis. Newscasts and talk shows in Quebec discussed the fiasco nearly non-stop last week and Quebec’s legislature voted in favour of a motion last Thursday demanding Mr. Rousseau step down, the first such request of a private-sector company in recent memory.
“This is an elegant way for the company to get out of this mess,” said François Dauphin, president of Montreal’s Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations.
It would have been difficult to justify firing Mr. Rousseau based on his lack of judgment and terminating him without cause would have triggered a hefty payout, Mr. Dauphin said. A voluntary departure, perhaps at the nudging of directors, thus became the obvious option, he said.
Pilots and flight crew arrive to line the road outside Air Canada headquarters on Thursday in Montreal for the repatriation of Antoine Forest.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Air Canada said a search for a new CEO is already under way. The company said the board would look both internally and externally for a successor and that it would consider candidates’ ability to communicate in French, among other criteria.
Among the internal candidates that would likely be in the running are John Di Bert, the current chief financial officer, and Mark Galardo, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer. Both speak French.
The Globe and Mail contacted several board members on Monday and received no replies. Air Canada spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said the directors were not speaking publicly on the matter.
Air Canada has been laying the groundwork for Mr. Rousseau’s eventual departure for more than two years with a program to groom internal executives with CEO potential. The company said it also started scouting for external candidates in January with the help of two executive search firms.
Still, Monday’s announcement surprised many. The video was released only a week ago.
“I think Air Canada’s board concluded that all this media attention was hurting the company and they needed to act,” said Louis Hébert, a specialist in corporate strategy at Montreal’s HEC business school. He said Mr. Rousseau himself might have felt that he didn’t want to deal with the inevitable scrutiny that would come every time he made a public appearance.
“This is so sensitive that the whole storm would have brewed up again with the smallest thing,” Mr. Hébert said.
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Mr. Rousseau joined Air Canada in 2007 as finance chief and became CEO in 2021, replacing Calin Rovinescu after two years as deputy CEO. In those roles, he steered the carrier through the 2008 financial crisis as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CEO provided “critical stabilizing leadership” through those operational challenges, RBC Capital Markets analyst James McGarragle said in a note. “Air Canada’s next leader must combine operational rigour with a clear strategic vision to navigate persistent industry headwinds including fuel price volatility, labour cost pressures, and competitive intensity,” he said.
Air Canada officials had said as recently as last week that it was important Mr. Rousseau stay to lead the company through the LaGuardia tragedy and the strain of fuel costs, which are surging in tandem with war in the Middle East.
Two Air Canada Express pilots were killed on March 22 at New York’s LaGuardia Airport after landing when their CRJ900 carrying 72 passengers and four crew members collided with a fire truck on the runway. The pilots, Antoine Forest of Coteau-du-Lac, Que., and Mackenzie Gunther of Ontario, were employees of Halifax’s Jazz Aviation, under contract to Air Canada.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, and is expected to have a preliminary report out within 30 days. “I messed up,” an air traffic controller was heard to say shortly after the crash, according to audio posted by LiveATC.net.
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John Gradek, who teaches aviation leadership at McGill University, said the prospect of keeping Mr. Rousseau much longer became untenable as the board faced increased pressure from politicians and French-language advocates.
“The dynamics of French in Canada are overpowering and that’s what did him in,” Mr. Gradek said. He predicted Air Canada will soon name a co-CEO to ensure a smooth transition, oversee aircraft purchases and the negotiations of collective agreements.
Not long after he became CEO in 2021, Mr. Rousseau made a speech to the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal that was mostly in English. Questioned by reporters after the speech, the CEO said he had managed to live in Montreal for 14 years without speaking French, and suggested he was too busy to learn the language.
Mr. Rousseau later apologized for the remarks and said he was beginning to take French lessons. “I reiterate Air Canada’s commitment to show respect for French and, as a leader, I will set the tone,” he said at the time.
Last week he apologized again, saying he was still unable to speak the language. He also said he regretted that his lack of French proficiency is proving to be a distraction as the airline deals with the aftermath of the LaGuardia crash.
Mr. Rousseau’s 2025 compensation package totalled $13.1-million, including share-based awards, according to an Air Canada regulatory filing made Monday. Since his appointment as CEO, he’s propelled the carrier’s “innovation, tech advancement and a customer-centric culture,” the company said. And while he can’t speak French adequately, he still helped the airline make progress on official language priorities, it said.
Air Canada employs 39,000 people and flies about 1,000 daily flights.
With a report from Stephanie Levitz