Press Release

Ottawa, February 21, 2002 -- The Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages today submitted to Parliament its report Air Canada:  Good Intentions Are Not Enough.  The report makes 16 recommendations on services offered in both official languages by the airline.

The Committee began its study on May 2, 2001, and submitted an interim report to Parliament the following month.  It then continued its study when Parliament resumed sitting in the fall  The evidence heard at the eight public hearings assisted members of the Committee to identify the problems preventing Air Canada from adequately meeting its linguistic obligations  under the Official Languages Act, a quasi-constitutional law.

The Committee calls on Air Canada’s senior management to introduce an appropriate system for implementing the Official Languages Act, as well as changing the corporate culture.  The Committee stresses the importance it places on the commitment made by Air Canada’s President and Chief Executive, Robert A. Milton, to introduce an action plan, by the end of March 2002, to support the implementation of the Official Languages Act.  Most of the recommendations addressed to Mr. Milton are designed to ensure that Air Canada’s action plan contains the measures necessary to overcome its linguistic shortcomings.

Among other recommendations, the Committee calls on the Minister of Transport, the Honourable David Collenette, to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act so that it stipulates unequivocally that the Official Languages Act takes precedence over collective agreements.  The introduction of such an amendment is proved necessary given  evidence that the seniority rule has until now been given greater weight than respect for the provisions of the Official Languages Act.  Other recommendations call on the Minister and the President of Treasury Board to ensure that Air Canada lives up to its linguistic obligations and reflects Canada’s linguistic duality both at home and abroad.

In addition, the Committee draws the government’s attention to a number of issues that have arisen from its work on which it is not yet prepared to make recommendations.

In their conclusion, the members of the Committee emphasize that good intentions are not enough -- it is results that count.

The Committee is co-chaired by the Honourable Shirley Maheu, Senator, and Mauril Bélanger, MP.  It is made up of seven (7) senators and sixteen (16) MPs.

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