Prime Minister Mark Carney sharpened pressure on Air Canada after saying CEO Michael Rousseau’s English-only condolence message following Sunday’s fatal LaGuardia crash lacked compassion.
The backlash came after Rousseau posted a four-minute video message online that included only two French words, “bonjour” and “merci,” despite one of the two dead pilots being Antoine Forest, a French-speaking Quebecker. Forest and fellow pilot Mackenzie Gunther were killed Sunday evening when the Air Canada Jazz aircraft they were landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport collided with a fire truck on the runway.
Rousseau is then being summoned to testify before the House of Commons official languages committee, a notable step that shifts the issue from public criticism into formal parliamentary scrutiny. By Tuesday afternoon, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages had received 84 complaints related to the video.
Carney’s criticism was paired with a more restrained message on the crash itself. Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, he said Ottawa’s “first job” is to work with US counterparts to determine the cause of the collision and ensure it does not happen again. He described the Canadian role as being in “full co-operation” with American authorities.
On the US side, the NTSB said Tuesday that the fire truck had been cleared to cross a runway 20 seconds before the collision with the arriving jet. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is participating in the probe alongside US authorities
Beyond the two pilot deaths, six people remained in hospital as of Tuesday. Those figures underscore that the outcome could have been even worse and help explain why Carney praised Forest and Gunther for life-saving actions in the final moments before impact.
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