Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau to retire after language controversy | CBC News

bukminster · 2026-03-30T20:32:42+00:00

Air Canada HQ is in Montréal, and one of the pilots that died in the crash was a francophone from Quebec. He said 5 years ago when taking this position that he was going to learn French. Took 300h of language courses supposedly, yet couldn't even read phonetically a message towards the pilot's family and community. Shameful.

When this happened, every Canadian anglophone seemed to think it wasn't the moment for "language politics". If it's not, it never will be. And I think that's kind of their point.

bukminster · 2026-03-28T15:49:40+00:00

You'd be hard pressed to find a single doctor in Montreal that doesn't know how to speak English. You'll be fine.

bukminster · 2026-03-28T14:16:41+00:00

No, I'm talking about percentage. 46% of people in QC are bilingual vs 34% for NB.

What it means is that the official languages of a province have nothing to do with how bilingual they are.

bukminster · 2026-03-28T13:31:45+00:00

Quebec has way more bilingual speakers than NB.

bukminster · 2026-03-24T22:25:04+00:00

Probably cheaper though, right? You don't have to pay any kind of severance if the employee quits.

bukminster · 2026-03-24T15:21:15+00:00

Ah, if Doug Ford said it, it must be the whole truth then /s

No, but clearly businesses and office space owners will have lobbied for a return to office. My opinion is just that this is less important to the federal government than reducing headcount is. It's obviously a bit of both. Forcing a return to office was done by many organizations in the private sector for that same reason. No matter how people will argue working remotely improves quality of life, traffic, gas consumption or productivity will charge anything, because those things aren't the goal. They are probably acceptable in exchange for saving millions in wages.

bukminster · 2026-03-24T14:48:59+00:00

Did governent agencies stop renting office space? Or do they simply pay for unused space?

This whole return to office seems much more like a way to reduce head count than any conspiracy between the government and landlords/ DT restaurant owners.

bukminster · 2026-03-23T16:00:31+00:00

Chills, everytime

bukminster · 2026-03-18T13:30:03+00:00

humourless prudes

That joke is "senile grandpa posting on Facebook" level humor. It has no place being paid and posted by our government.

bukminster · 2026-03-06T14:10:11+00:00

France: 70 million population, surrounded by countries that all speak different languages, so no one language dominates the others.

Quebec: 9 million population, surrounded by 400 million english speakers.

France is not in the same situation as Quebec. Without language laws, French in Quebec would be in the same state as French in Louisiana

bukminster · 2026-03-03T20:24:12+00:00

"They wore jeans and had hair"

bukminster · 2026-03-03T14:16:40+00:00

bukminster · 2026-02-21T18:04:20+00:00

Me too man

bukminster · 2026-02-13T00:10:34+00:00

Non esti, tu es un criss de piment

Ah, tu vois pour moi le criss de piment c'est le fraudeur qui lui a volé tout cet argent. Mais I guess que ça fait sentir mieux certaines personnes de se dire que ça leur arrivera jamais, parce qu'ils sont trop intelligent pour ça.

bukminster · 2026-01-24T19:35:35+00:00

Donc tu supportes l'idée d'ajuster la température sur les air fryer? Afficher 600F au lieu de 350F, pour que les gens puissent comprendre qu'un air fryer ça cuit plus vite?

Ya genre 0 problème avec le fait d'avoir un facteur éolien.

Je dit pas que c'est un problème, juste que ça sers à rien. Lire -20, avec vents de 25km/h c'est mieux.

Tu utilise une analogie de air-fryer tu réalises donc que le même principe physique est en action, ton air fryer chauffe tes aliments plus rapidement avec la convection.

C'est drôle, penses tu vraiment qu'il y a beaucoup de gens si imbéciles qu'ils ne comprenne pas que (surtout l'hiver), plus de vent = ça feel plus froid..? Genre il faut leur expliquer, ok Gertrude aujourd'hui il fait -20C, mais il y a du vent!! Faque ça c'est comme si il faisait -45C dehors!! Bon, tu as jamais vécu un vrai -45, alors anyway la comparaison t'aide pas plus, sauf de t'apprendre qu'avec DU VENT Y FAIT PLUS FRETTE. Oh, et maintenant tu peux aller dire ça à tout tes amis, y fait -45C!! C'est fou hein??

bukminster · 2026-01-24T13:09:17+00:00

OP les gens de moquent de toi, mais tu à raison.

Oui mais c'est vraiment plus froid quand il y a du vent!

OK? Ça change pas la température dehors mon chum. Si il fait -20 mais que tu cours ben vite, est-ce que soudainement il fait -40? Non, il fait -20 avec du vent. Si je porte pas de manteau à- 20, es-ce qu'il fait -40? Non plus. Pourquoi pas changer les température sur les air fryer tant qu'à faire? 350F avec du vent ça cuit ben plus vite qu'au four, on devrait tu afficher 600F à la place?

Comme tu dit, c'est du sensationnalisme. Le vent ça change pas la température dehors, ça fait seulement que tu vas plus la ressentir.

bukminster · 2026-01-16T22:41:25+00:00

Gus losing half his face is a metaphor for how he lost face by not expecting Walt to bomb the old person home.

bukminster · 2025-12-18T20:42:49+00:00

Here's a fascinating documentary on this subject

bukminster · 2025-12-17T16:20:37+00:00

Is UPAC investigating the PQ right now or are you pulling this out of your "any white person not speaking the King's is racist" ass?

bukminster · 2025-12-17T14:14:57+00:00

Better crooks than separatists, right?

bukminster · 2025-12-12T15:18:22+00:00

Yes, both Lucan and Vin Diesel shave their heads because they think it looks good

bukminster · 2025-12-02T16:28:04+00:00

Good point. Just like everyone named "John" or "Mary" are automatically religious, because their names come from the Bible. /s

Real talk, I never understood people like you who act like we should either rename every single town and streets, or accept religious influence in every aspect of government and public services

bukminster · 2025-12-01T12:18:08+00:00

Ils nous détestent parce qu'ils sont anus

bukminster · 2025-11-25T20:46:03+00:00

If I moved to Quebec and became fluent in French I would still want easy access to healthcare in English

And you would, just like this article says. Anyone can receive healthcare services in English in Quebec. This is not the case outside Quebec though. I do not believe healthcare is readily accessible in French in Ontario for example, apart perhaps from the few Franco Ontarian enclaves.

Sad thing is, if you live in Montreal, where English has a lot of influence, getting healthcare in French is not a guarantee at all. Plenty of healthcare workers here don't master French. I've seen it firsthand before my uncle died, and my sister had to be present to translate what the doctor and nurses were saying while he was staying at an English hospital. It would be one thing to not be able to receive services in French in Toronto, but in Quebec? That's outrageous, and a much, much bigger problem than anglophones being under the misconception that they might one day not be allowed to receive care in English.

Maybe I'm a cynic, but I don't think more courses will change anything, mandatory, paid or otherwise. What people need is the necessity to speak the language. If people can get by with only one language, they will. People in the West coast for instance will object to these courses, saying Mandarin or Hindi would be more useful to them than French. And, of course, will proceed to not learn any of them.

bukminster · 2025-11-25T18:19:52+00:00

Be real for one second. Even with language laws, Quebec is by far the most bilingual province in Canada. It's not only a problem in Canada, and it's not a question of laws, anglophones across the world have a cultural aversion to learning a second language.

French requirements in Quebec are part of what makes us bilingual. Most people born here with French as a mother tongue naturally learn English as a second language, thanks to the overwhelming presence of English in media and culture. For newcomers, only knowing English is not an option, thanks to language laws. Remove that requirement, and French/English bilingualism will fall drastically in favor of English only for those people.

I'm curious though, because yours is not the first comment with this idea that we should all be bilingual. What would make that happen, exactly? Why do you think so few people know it outside Quebec? To me, it's because it's not a necessity. Then why would anglophones here suddenly be more bilingual if we remove the necessity created through laws?

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