Carney slams Air Canada CEO for English-only remarks after crash

OTTAWA, March 25 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday criticized Air Canada AC.TO CEO Michael Rousseau for expressing condolences after a fatal crash in English and not in French, Canada's second official language.

Carney told reporters that Rousseau had shown a lack of judgment and said he expected the airline's board to make a statement. An Air Canada jet struck a fire truck on Sunday night as it landed at New York's LaGuardia airport, killing both pilots.

Although Air Canada is officially bilingual, Rousseau - a native English-speaker - issued a four-minute video that only featured two words in French. Parliament's language committee voted on Tuesday to summon him to Ottawa to discuss the matter.

"I'm very disappointed - as others are, rightly so - in this unilingual message of the CEO of Air Canada ... (it shows) a lack of judgment, a lack of compassion," Carney said.

"I will follow his comments (to committee) closely, and comments which I would expect in due course from the board of directors," he continued.

Air Canada was not immediately available for comment.

Language is a sensitive issue in Canada, particularly in predominantly French-speaking Quebec, the second-most populous of the 10 provinces.

Unhappiness over the dominance of English helped the rise of the separatist Parti Quebecois in the 1970s, and the party has a commanding poll lead ahead of a provincial election due this year. It is promising to hold another referendum on independence if it wins. PQ governments held two such votes in 1980 and 1995.

This is not the first time Rousseau has found himself in trouble over language. In 2021, Canada's government said he should improve his French as part of his annual board review, prompting him to promise to do better.

As part of a COVID-19 pandemic bailout package, Ottawa took a 6% stake in the airline in 2021. It sold the holding last December.