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| Air Canada Boss... Let them Eat Cake!!! |
All this outrage over the unilingual boss of Air Canada giving a speech in English and admitting that although he lives and works in Montreal and is married to a francophone, he cannot speak French.
“I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French, and I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal,” Michael Rousseau said after making a major speech to the city's business community. Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau
Oh my....
The shrill and hysterical outrage is comical because it showcases a reality that language militants pretend isn't there.
Air Canada and just about every single big corporation in Canada operate in English. Period.
The need for a bilingual CEO is an unneeded handicap and limits the pool of potential candidates by at least 95%.
Quebec politicians can huff and puff about language but shareholders demand the most capable person for the job and speaking French isn't even on the radar when hiring.
Air Canada's rarefied boardroom may be located in the head office in Montreal but it operates in English without a whimper of a complaint by the OLF.
In the asymmetric world of language politics, it's important for you to speak French but not for them to speak English.
The idea that an anglophone can live in Quebec without French is outrageous while it makes perfect sense for a francophone to live in Canada without any English.
The argument made is that in Quebec there's really no need or requirement to speak English because everything is available in French. But that of course can be said of English in the downtown and western half of Montreal.
Deux poids deux measures.
In fact, the proposed Quebec language law that the government is trying to pass making a company prove that another language is necessary before making it a condition of employment can apply to Mr. Rousseau explicitly who is unilingual and has no need to speak another language. Ha!
Language militants are making all sorts of nonsense and desperate arguments, like the fact that Air Canada received a lot of government aid during the pandemic, so the CEO must speak French because Quebec taxpayers helped foot the bill.
Militants also demand that the CEO speaks French because the head office is in Montreal, a situation with an easy solution à la Sun Life.
The very idea that Air Canada's head office remains in Montreal is absurd, with Toronto the hub of its corporate and business life. Quebec remains a tiny part of Air Canada's business and should be treated as such.
Forcing Air Canada to have a French-speaking cabin crew on every flight, even local ones in BC where the chances are overwhelming that nobody on the flight is francophone.
In the asymmetric world of Quebec language militancy, this makes perfect sense, a bus driver on a route in the west island of Montreal where perhaps 75% of the passengers are English need not answer a question in English.
It is time to update the Official LAnguages act to make forced bilingualism apply to all or none.
Quebec cannot have its cake and eat it too.
Mr. Rousseau should have not apologized (which he did) and rather should have told Quebec to like it or lump it.
As for rumblings of a boycott... another farcical joke.
There are only two criteria for choosing an airline, price and convenience.
There is no reason for English speakers to be on the defensive. The easiest arguement for living in Montreal without speaking a word of French is that it has a very large English speaking population now and historically. The Quebec goverment has tried to force demographic change by implementing language laws and changing goal posts regarding "protection" of French. Instead of trying to make Montreal French maybe they should concentrate on making other urban areas like Quebec City developped and more populous. Encourage allophones and even the Souche to go there. There would be more incentive to speak French there, then Montreal.
ReplyDeleteThe Quebecois de Souche from the regions come to Montreal and then claim there is too much English, but no one calls them out on it. Plenty of pro language law types try compare Bilingualism in the Toronto area vs Montreal. An apples to apples comparison would be comparing Toronto to Quebec City. In that comparison, there is more French in Toronto then there is English in Quebec City.
The only solution I see for minorities is for the creation of a new Bilingual province carved out of minority dominated areas of Quebec, maybe even that of the Francophone minority dominated areas of Ontario and merge the areas into a new province. Like a New Brunswick.
J@rry P@rk
Hey J.P.: Have you been reading past postings? Mr. H. is calling for Montreal to become a bilingual city-state. Go back a few postings and read the comments, including mine!!!
ReplyDeletePhilip, the writer of this blog, mentioned Sun Life going way back to the late 1970s. Another important company to leave over the years is CP Rail, now located in Calgary. I'm sure there is a plenitude of others that can be named as well.
Interestingly, a buddy of mine who relocated from our old home town of Chomedey, told me an uncle of his has had to move into a retirement home due to his health sold his house in NDG on Oxford St. for an astounding $945,000!!! I think HIS parents probably bought it in the 1910s or 20s for $4,000. That's a 236.25% return assuming the house was owned by his family for 100 years, but excluding the COMPOUNDING GROWTH effect. I tried a little interpolation, and it works out to over 5.5% per year compounded!!!
I guess foreign buyers are not worried about separation in Montreal as Vancouver and Toronto have become plenty expensive! ...or at least they're not aware of the politics. Remember how it was virtually impossible to MOVE a house back in the early 1990s? Interesting!
On the topic of real estate. Canadian real estate is completely over valued. Canada has a population of around 40 to 42 million, while the US has 330 million. Homes in places with double the population of Montreal in the US have cheaper house prices, even in the better neighbourhoods. Even places like Kingston, Cornwall, and London are overpriced.
DeleteI think Trudeau called for an early election that he could have easily lost had there been a better oppossition leader, because he knew interest rates will be going up significantly and whoever is in power would be left holding the bag of a collapsed real estate market.
5 years ago Canadian personal debt levels were 168%. The 2008 housing crash happened in the US when debt levels were 135%. Since 70% of Canadians are home owners, no govt wants to do what is necessary to deflate the housing bubble.
I am glad Erin O' Toole lost, he was actually promising the Quebecois the right to implement Bill 101 in Federally regulated industries. Of course he would avoid talking about it in the English media.
J@rry P@rk
I'm not an expert on the real estate market, so all I hear is the demand is exceeding the supply...in Toronto for sure. I think foreign investors are looking to park their money in places, and Canadian real estate, compared to other countries, for a long time was a bargain basement compared to other major cities in the world.
DeleteFrom what I understand, Hampstead, one of the more affluent bergs in Montreal, is now about 20% unoccupied. Foreign buyers parking their money.
Hi Mr Sauga,
ReplyDeleteI know that Holness is advocating for a bilingual Montreal. Specifically a referendum on Montreal being bilingual. Better yet let the individual boroughs and districts decide if they are going to be bilingual. Its a good step. He can defy the Quebec Govt. provide city services and even street signs in both French and English.
The Quebec govt won't cooperate on sales tax revenue, for the city to provide additional services. They can even cut funding.
That being said the Federal govt. has negotiated a pact with Quebec to provide services like Immigration and Income Tax collection to the province(Federal responsibilities). One of the stipulations of this agreement is that the Quebec govt. must provide bilingual services in return. Already business owners in Quebec in many if not most cases are being forced to complete their taxes in French. Which is already breaking the agreement. I think if there is enough exposure in the rest of Canada, it could pressure the Federal govt. to make a deal with local govts in Quebec. The Federal govt. would have to argue that it was an exception due to the Quebec govt. breaking their promises regarding bilingualism and discrimination. The other provinces would not want their own cities asking for similar rights as Montreal. Even the health funding transfers from the Federal govt. could be redirected directly to the English (bilingual) health providers, if the Quebec govt tries to force them to stop being bilingual.
Also if the municipalities collect school taxes. Montreal under Holness and other pro minority towns in Quebec, could allow Anglos, Allos and Francophones the choice to provide those taxes to either the English or French school boards. That would allow English schools to enroll more students, defying the language laws. I believe half if not most Allophones would choose the English school boards to pay school taxes to.
I've reached out to all my friends and family in Montreal to vote for Holness. I suspect he has more support then the polls indicate. He was shut out from the French debates. In the English debates, friends I spoke to said he did the best. The Globe and Mail had an article about the Montreal Election but completely ignored Balarama Holness and didn't even mention him. A big chuck of the Anglo media are apologists for the language laws.
What is ironic, is that the Quebec govt encouraged North African immigration to dilute the number of English speakers in Montreal. However they wanted those North Africans to become overnight culturally Quebecois. The "secularism law was created once it became clear that wasnt happening. Another example of shifting the goal posts.
J@rry P@rk
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ReplyDeletePlante won...too little too late!
ReplyDeleteYes from around 35% voter turnout. Holness did torpedo that Denis Coderre campaign either by taking vote share or ethnic and anglo voters not turning out to vote. He could have one if he kept his mouth shut about the language laws.
DeleteHolness has 4 years to campaign.
J@rry P@rk
Four years is a long time, J.P.
DeleteAs my grandmother used to say, "what a load of sheite". The pres of Air Canada is not the first or the last unilingual anglophone to lead Air Canada. He's there for his business accumen first and foremost. Ya, I admit it would be nice to have someone bilingual, but when it comes to the share price bilingualism is not a high priority.
ReplyDeleteAfter the reaction this whole anglo CEO scandal has generated over the past few weeks, I'm beginning to think that a new Equality Party is inevitable at this point. The Liberals really have no choice but to pander to Quebec chauvinism (unless they want to be relegated to Montreal and Gatineau for the forseeable future) so Bill 96 will pass unanimously. Rousseau just set himself up to be the punching bag for the next election. The federal parties all care much, much more about winning francophone votes than winning ours, so they'll do whatever Legault tells them to. So...that's it. We're alone. Nobody is coming to the rescue.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I laughed out loud when I clicked the Sun Life article, because it's so true. After an entire province loses its collective mind because the CEOs of a bunch of multinational companies couldn't speak French, I imagine every multinational company in the world is side-eyeing this insanity and making a mental note never to move its headquarters to Montreal. Legault is giving the OQLF more power to search businesses to see if they're speaking the wrong language and letting them regulate whether English is necessary or not (like that's a decision that companies are going to trust the Quebec government to make). People wonder why Quebec has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the country; ludicrous regulation like this is a significant part of the reason. The crazy part is that people would still drive businesses out of the province to support this craziness, because at least everybody is making the right mouth-noises. TOKÉBEKCITTE!
I've considered leaving just so I could be free from this madness. As a friend of mine said, "All of this goes away when you move to Ontario." But I know that's what they want. I think I'm just here out of spite at this point.
"Nobody is coming to the rescue" Sad boomers of the 'Speak White Era' ... Simpler times I guess.
ReplyDeleteSalutations aux éjarés de la vente au plus offrant.
50 plus years of language laws couldn't erase English in Montreal. Time is not on your side. The rest of Canada is not going to tolerate this once an ethnic minority Prime Minister who has no Anglo guilt complex takes over, special treatment for the Quebecois will end. Le souche even alienated the French Speaking ethnics they brought in to dilute English in Montreal. Its the Quebecois de souche that come from the regions that want to change the demographics of Montreal. Though if you did, Montreal would no long be the economic engine of Quebec. I read in the Suburban that 20% of the non Quebecois minority pay 40% of the taxes in Quebec.
ReplyDeleteJ@rry P@rk
J@rry P@rk
"once an ethnic minority Prime Minister who has no Anglo guilt complex takes over, special treatment for the Quebecois will end"
DeleteI'm not so sure you're right. The Liberals have a lot of minority MPs, but they're also dependent on Quebec votes to get elected. Even if there were an ethnic minority, Liberal Prime Minister, that person would be very concerned about losing seats in Quebec, even if they don't have an Anglo guilt complex. Legault ordered Trudeau to pass the "nationhood" amendment earlier this year because he knew that there was going to be an election and Trudeau couldn't refuse without risking his Quebec MPs (and maybe even his own riding). Any Liberal PM is going to be under the same pressure, regardless of their background.
The Conservatives really don't have a lot of ethnic minorities that I can think of (Leslyn Lewis is the only one who comes to mind who is still in Parliament). Even if you found a Conservative minority candidate, the Tories have this fantasy that one day it's going to be 1984 all over again and they'll sweep every seat outside of Montreal. So they just keep their mouths shut whenever Legault does something evil, because they think that the pandering might help them pick up a seat in Saguenay some day.
At this point, it really isn't Anglo guilt that's letting Quebec get away with murder. It's political expediency.
Yes it is about the Quebec vote, though the politicians are very careful to try to limit how much exposure there is about them supporting language laws in the rest of Canada. I believe if the rest of Canada and even the US was aware of the extent of the language laws and the large % of the population of Quebec that are directly effected by the language laws, these politicians wouldn't be able to easily get away with that pandering. With Quebecs' anti oil stance, it would be a good time for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to speak up about Quebecs' language laws.
DeleteJ@rry P@rk
"Le souche even alienated the French Speaking ethnics they brought in to dilute English in Montreal" ... I thought it was the other way around?!
ReplyDeletehttps://cultmtl.com/2021/11/sugar-sammy-trolls-air-canada-ceo-michael-rousseau-and-other-unilingual-montreal-anglos/
'Not even make an effort'
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ReplyDeleteThe editor writes:
ReplyDelete"Of course, Air Canada is subject to the Official languages Act because when the government privatized it, that condition was embedded."
Know what else was "embedded" as regards application of the Official Languages Act (OLA)? The following, as per section 25 of the Act:
"25 Every federal institution has the duty to ensure that, where services are provided or made available by another person or organization on its behalf, any member of the public in Canada or elsewhere can communicate with and obtain those services from that person or organization in either official language in any case where those services, if provided by the institution, would be required under this Part to be provided in either official language."
Pray tell, what falls under this category? Well, there are numerous areas of federal jurisdiction which fall under the application of the OLA that have, through federal/Quebec agreements, been transferred for administration to Quebec from the federal government, in whole or in part. Here are just a few:
- Administration of the Indian Act;
- Immigration;
- GST.
The Quebec Government is an "organization" in every sense of the word. And in the areas mentioned above, "services are provided or made available" on "behalf" of the federal government.
These services that are provided by Quebec not only must be provided in English as well as French but includes signage as well.
And business cards.
And name plates on doors and outside signage.
And simultaneous translation and next-day written translations into the other Official Language in the National Assembly Blue Room and committees (just as this "service" is provided to the public in the federal House of Commons).
Now, tell me: when was the last time you saw signs of equal size in BOTH official languages at your local Revenue Quebec office? Or at the office of the Quebec Minister of Finance? And there is no "marked predominance" in the OLA. Signs must be, pursuant to s. 25, in equal size.
And, of course, when you are greeted -- by phone or in person or whenever or where ever -- you must be greeted in both official languages. No finessing or debate regarding "Hi/Bonjour" debate in these areas.
The problem, of course, is that s. 25 is not "policed" by the courts as most laws are but by the federal ministry which has transferred the administration of these services to Quebec. This is because the wording is not "the organisation shall abide by the provisions of the OLA," which would put oversight of s. 25 in the justice system's arena. No, conveniently for Quebec, oversight is "Every federal institution has the duty to ensure..." which, of course, means that no one in the federal government will do diddlysquat to require that these services are provided in both official languages. The Treasury Board is also assigned this task.
This is just legally wrong. The government of Quebec is not a "federal institution." It's a provincial institution. The only things they are obligated to do (which are all in the Constitution) are guarantee certain education rights in Section 23 of the Charter (from which Quebec is partially exempt), the ability to speak English in court, translate legislation into English, and allow English to be spoken in the National Assembly. That's it. The word FEDERAL is important there, because it is the opposite of PROVINCIAL.
DeleteThe fact that the government of Canada has turned immigration over to Quebec (partially) means that Section 25 does not govern that part of the immigration process. Quebec has no obligation to provide anyone with any services in English, except for the ones I mentioned earlier (which it does). Only the federal government has that obligation under the OLA, and it wouldn't have the power under the Constitution to compel any province to provide any additional services in English (or French) anyway.
Whether Quebec *should* allow people to speak whatever language they want in whatever context is a different question. But there's just no legal or constitutional argument to *make* them do that which would make any sense.
The "federal institution" referred to in s. 25 is the federal ministry that has, through agreement with Quebec, transferred to Quebec responsibility to provide services to them; it is not a reference to Quebec.
DeleteAnd, of course, the Quebec government is most certainly an "organization." Googling "organization definition" returns: "an organized body of people with a particular purpose, especially a business, society, association, etc."
For those areas of immigration that the Canadian government has not ceded to Quebec, of course the provisions of the OLA still apply; and the areas that it has ceded to Quebec must also apply. This is the law and it is those areas to which I was referring.
That Quebec has constitutional obligations in certain areas to provide services in English does not prevent them from offering services in English in other areas. If that was not the case, English Quebecers would, as just one example, not be provided with income tax returns in English.