Language issues in Canada regularly spark controversy and fuel polarizing debates, which can then be echoed and amplified in the media and by citizens.
Following the accident in March at LaGuardia Airport in New York involving an Air Canada passenger jet, the company’s CEO, Michael Rousseau, delivered a message of condolence in English only, provoking a fierce outcry and extensive media coverage. Rousseau announced his resignation soon after.
Although English-Canadian media and Québec French-speaking journalists and commentators largely agreed that the monolingual message was inappropriate, the views expressed by the general public were more divided.
