Fallout continues after fatal Air Canada crash at LaGuardia

Both Air Canada and air-navigation authorities are facing tough questions after a deadly runway collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport that killed two Canadian pilots and injured more than 40 people.

The tragedy is now reverberating on two fronts: a mounting backlash over Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau’s English-only video message of condolence, and warnings that Canada is facing a serious shortage of air traffic controllers.

Air Canada Express Flight 8646 struck a fire truck on the runway late Sunday at LaGuardia. Both pilots died in the collision; one, Antoine Forest, was a francophone Quebecer from Coteau‑du‑Lac.

PM says Air Canada video lacked compassion

Speaking in Ottawa on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “very disappointed” by Rousseau’s response to the crash, in which the CEO addressed families and staff in English only in a video posted to social media, despite Air Canada’s obligations under the Official Languages Act. Carney accused the airline of showing a “lack of compassion,” according to CTV News.

In the four‑minute message, Rousseau expressed condolences to the families of those killed or hurt in the accident. The CEO said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life and called the crash a “very dark day” for the airline, according to CBC News.

But the CEO delivered the message almost entirely in English, aside from saying “bonjour” at the start and “merci” at the end. CBC reports the video was posted with French subtitles.

CEO summoned to Ottawa over English-only message

The House of Commons Official Languages Committee has now summoned Rousseau to Parliament to explain his choice to speak in English only in that video.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Commissioner of Official Languages had received 84 complaints about the video, CBC reported. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves‑François Blanchet denounced what he called a “sad and gross lack of respect” toward the loved ones of Forest, saying Rousseau should “very seriously ask himself whether he has not clearly disqualified himself for the position he holds,” in an online post cited by CBC.

The controversy resurrects long‑standing questions about Rousseau’s record on French. Four years ago, he was called to Ottawa after speaking almost entirely in English during a speech in Montreal and saying he didn’t need French to live in the city. “I admit that I made a mistake by not learning to speak French when I joined Air Canada and I am correcting that mistake at this point,” he told MPs in 2022, according to CBC News.

Air Canada is defending the latest video, saying Rousseau spoke English “to convey such a sensitive message as effectively” as possible, given what the carrier described as his limited French.

“Despite his efforts, his ability to speak French does not allow him to convey such a sensitive message as effectively as he would have liked in that language,” the airline said in a statement quoted by CBC, adding that French subtitles were used “to ensure everyone can receive his message directly.”

CTV News reports Rousseau has been summoned to Ottawa to explain the English‑only message, amid what Carney called a “lack of judgement and lack of compassion” in his handling of the tragedy.

Warning over shortage of air traffic controllers

As politicians focus on language rights and corporate accountability, aviation experts are also warning that Canada is facing a structural shortage of the highly trained professionals who manage its skies.

“We’re not even covering off retirements,” said John Gradek, a faculty lecturer in McGill University’s aviation management program, in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Gradek told the news agency that Canada is short about 1,500 air traffic controllers and loses around 150 more to retirement every year. He described controllers as having a “special skill set” that goes beyond the three‑dimensional thinking most people use.

“We know three dimensions. The trick about controllers is they need a fourth dimension, and they have to understand the fourth dimension being time,” he said, explaining that when controllers move an aircraft “up 1,000 feet or down 1,000 feet, or turn left or turn right,” they are doing it so the plane will be “in this location at this time and in the future,” according to The Canadian Press.

Training is demanding and wash‑out rates are high. “Only about 10 per cent of the controllers that you in take into class make it out as a full‑fledged controller,” Gradek said, adding that Canada’s graduation rate is still higher than the roughly three per cent seen in the United States, The Canadian Press reported.

NAV Canada promise solutions, safety

Spokesperson Gabriel Bourget of NAV Canada, the private, non‑profit corporation that oversees air traffic control in Canada, said the agency is pursuing a multi‑year strategy to bolster staffing.

“Canadians and travellers can be reassured, we are in solution mode: focused on strengthening service resiliency, supporting our people, working constructively with industry partners while upholding the highest standards of safety they rightly expect,” Bourget said in the statement cited by The Canadian Press.

The agency said that since 2023 it has licensed more than 600 air‑traffic professionals, including more than 300 controllers, though it did not disclose vacancy rates.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said he is pressing Nav Canada for more aggressive recruitment. “I’ve asked NAV Canada to continue to come up with solutions for recruitment so that we can reduce the undue reliance we have on a smaller number of air traffic controllers than we would wish to have,” he told reporters, according to The Canadian Press.

MacKinnon also moved to reassure travellers that Canada’s aviation system remains safe, even as investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Canada’s Transportation Safety Board probe the LaGuardia crash.

He said Canada’s transport systems are “among the most rigorous in the world” and that Ottawa takes “every precautionary measure” to ensure the country continues to “perform at the highest levels of security,” The Canadian Press reported.

“The Americans have very high standards, and we have a very collaborative relationship with the U.S., and I know they’ll be as eager as we to find the answers,” MacKinnon added, stressing that the crash investigation is still in its early stages.