Air Canada's CEO is stepping down after deadly plane crash & French language controversy
After 19 years as an executive at the Montreal-based company, he still can't speak French.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau delivers his condolences after last Sunday's deadly plane crash. Right: An Air Canada plane.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau will leave the company later this year, after coming under fire last week for his inability to deliver a video condolence message in French following a plane crash that killed two Air Canada Express pilots.
The airline said Monday that Rousseau has told the board he'll retire by the end of third quarter of this year. He's expected to continue to lead the company and serve on its board of directors until he steps down.
Rousseau was widely criticized for the lack of French in the four-minute condolence video posted online that included only two French words — "bonjour" and "merci."
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the decision to release the video message only in English showed a "lack of judgment and lack of compassion."
Quebec Premier François Legault also called the video disrespectful to the airline's employees and its francophone customers, adding that if Rousseau doesn't speak French, he should resign.
Air Canada board chair Vagn Sorensen thanked Rousseau for his many contributions at the airline.
Rousseau was appointed CEO of Air Canada in February 2021 after serving as deputy chief executive and chief financial officer.
He took on the CFO job in 2007 on the cusp of the financial crisis that kicked off that year, overseeing the company's books as travel demand plummeted amid the Great Recession.
Rousseau is widely seen as playing an instrumental role in changing Air Canada's financial trajectory by boosting its profit margin, share price and pension plan, which moved from a $3.7-billion deficit in 2013 to a $2.6-billion surplus in 2019.
"We are grateful for the determined leadership he has provided not only in steering our company through the 2007-2008 financial crisis, COVID and other challenges, but also in capturing opportunities such as the acquisition of Aeroplan, in restoring the solvency of our pension plans and in advancing customer centricity and employee well-being priorities," Sorensen said in a statement.
As both CFO and CEO, his achievements lay in one area above all.
"One word: finance," said John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University.
"He turned Air Canada from a multibillion-dollar loss during the pandemic to a $3.5-billion (adjusted) profit now."
But relations not just with Quebec's francophone community — the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages had received 1,808 complaints about Rousseau's video as of last Thursday — but with labour unions proved uneven for the CEO.
The company cancelled thousands of flights in August 2025 during a three-day strike by flight attendants who disobeyed a federal directive to go back on the job, catching Rousseau off-guard.
He acknowledged in a BNN Bloomberg interview that the company hadn't made preparations for passengers whose trips were called off because he thought the order from Ottawa would be "enforced."
The controversy over the video message wasn't the first time Rousseau's lack of French landed him in trouble, either.
Following a speech in 2021 given almost entirely in English to the Montreal chamber of commerce, he told reporters he did not need to learn French to get by in Montreal — comments that sparked backlash and for which he apologized the next day.
Rousseau pledged at that time to improve his French.
However, he apologized last week that despite many lessons over several years, he was still unable to express himself adequately in French.
As a former federal Crown corporation, Air Canada is subject to the Official Languages Act, which requires that it offer services in French for routes that include airports in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
Air Canada said its board will consider a number of criteria in assessing candidates to be its next chief executive, including the ability to communicate in French.
The Air Canada Express flight that crashed was flying from Montreal to New York's LaGuardia Airport, and many of the travellers and crew — including Antoine Forest, one of the two pilots killed — were French-speaking Canadians.
Forest and fellow pilot Mackenzie Gunther died when the aircraft collided with a fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.
