Language rules: An even tougher challenge than creditors?

BRENT JANG

Friday, November 19, 2004

Air Canada regional jets serving western cities usually need just one flight attendant. But if that person speaks only English, the airline needs to have a French-speaking attendant on board, too.

Operations manuals for mechanics need to be in both official languages. And advertising must be in publications serving people in French and English.

But those days should end, Air Canada says. After struggling through an 18-month restructuring process that saw it cut everything from labour costs to leasing deals, the country's flag carrier now wishes to pare the costly business of bilingualism.

The Montreal-based airline has seven translators on staff, available 24 hours a day, along with an additional 10 on call.

The carrier, which emerged from bankruptcy protection on Sept. 30, is now fine-tuning its business strategy, including updating its "linguistic action plan" before making a presentation next Thursday to the Commons standing committee on official languages.

Air Canada wants a "level playing field" in the industry when it comes to bilingualism, company spokeswoman Laura Cooke said yesterday.

Indeed, the carrier has battled creditors, unions and even pop diva Celine Dion's critics, but now the airline's fight for success is moving to a different plane -- the sensitive issue of Canada's official languages.

A revamped Air Canada is upset by what it sees as Ottawa's unfair and costly bilingualism demands, saying the airline is forced to schedule translators around the clock, buy advertisements in small French-language newspapers and train staff to be bilingual.

Air Canada stresses that it isn't anti-French -- far from it -- but its translation department is run off its feet complying with the Official Languages Act. Internal newsletters have to be made available simultaneously in English and French.

Translation and safety are the two sacred cows that haven't been downsized by restructuring.

The self-described "extreme makeover" featured creditors getting pennies on the dollar for money owed, unionized employees taking wage cuts and the hiring of Ms. Dion for new TV commercials.

The airline wants to let market demand be the driver for French services, and not have bureaucrats in Ottawa dictating linguistic policy to a private sector carrier.

Air Canada, which was a Crown corporation until the late 1980s, is the only airline that must comply with the Official Languages Act. If Ottawa won't relax its bilingualism requirements, then the carrier wants rivals such as WestJet Airlines Ltd., Jetsgo Corp. and CanJet Airlines to be subject to the same rules.

While Ms. Cooke said the airline is honoured to promote bilingualism and vows to meet its obligations by law, it's unhappy with "unequitable treatment" from Ottawa.

The carrier will be represented at the Commons committee by Duncan Dee, who is senior vice-president of corporate affairs for the airline's new parent company, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc.

Air Canada agrees with the need to provide bilingual services in the National Capital Region, Quebec, New Brunswick and regions where demand is sufficiently high for French services. "It's just good customer service," driven by market demand, Ms. Cooke said.

The airline feels the federal government can't let go of the past and treats it as if it were still a Crown corporation. It is still operating under the Air Canada Public Participation Act, passed in 1988, even though the federal government sold off its stake in the carrier in 1988 and 1989.

The act ensures that the former Crown corporation's head office remains in Montreal and that service to passengers is guaranteed "in either official language." The act requires the airline to adhere to the Official Languages Act, which governs federal institutions and covers "language of work" provisions for employees.

Air Canada runs newspaper ads across the country, in both official languages. In mainly English-speaking markets, the airline argues, this means that any ad placed in an English-language newspaper must also be duplicated in a French-language newspaper, even in the absence of a compelling business reason to do so.

These French-language newspapers with small circulations don't have an incentive to give Air Canada a competitive price for an ad, knowing the airline is required to buy an equal-sized ad in French.

Or when advertising a seat sale, for instance, the carrier buys an English advertisement in the Vancouver Sun and also a French ad in L'Express du Pacifique based in Vancouver -- one of 13 such dual placements across Canada.

On the issue of training staff to be bilingual, the airline accuses Ottawa of having a double standard. Ottawa provides federal institutions with government assistance, but won't help Air Canada carry out costly language training because the airline is in the private sector.

The airline says the goal of having bilingual staff is admirable, but training has been made more difficult by its acquisition in early 2000 of Canadian Airlines International Ltd., where unilingual anglophones made up 87 per cent of the work force.

During a round of layoffs last year, Air Canada cut a group of mostly younger employees, an estimated 65 per cent of which were bilingual.

The airline sees a major difficulty in pulling much-needed employees off their jobs to go on language training for up to four months and finding replacements to fulfill certain duties.

Despite efforts to schedule bilingual flight attendants on certain flights, sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

Airlines abide by Transport Canada regulations -- not the Official Languages Act -- for routine safety announcements in both French and English, such as the location of exits. On most Air Canada flights in the West, safety announcements in both official languages are made live over the speakers, but WestJet tends to use prerecorded French messages.

© The Globe and Mail



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QUEBEC MAY UNLEASH LANGUAGE POLICE

WebPosted Tue Nov 23 13:16:40 2004

QUEBEC CITY ---Quebec's premier may unleash the language police to crack down on the growing use of English in workplaces around the province.

A report released on Monday found English continues to gain ground in the province. Premier Jean Charest says he favours doing whatever needs to be done to promote the French language and culture.

INDEPTH: Language in Quebec

That could include asking Quebec's language watchdog to tighten up enforcement of the rules, he said.

Under Bill 101, the controversial language law passed in the 1970s, the Office de la Langue Française, can order businesses with more than 50 employees to translate all internal correspondence into French.

"The English language has become very much – throughout the world – the language of business," Charest said.

"So the constant pressure will be there."

RELATED STORY: GE staff sue for right to work in French

The report, released on Monday by the language watchdog, says the French language is in a "precarious" state in Quebec as English usage continues to expand.

It says efforts to require businesses to comply with language laws aren't halting the trend.

The report also finds that although immigrants are still more likely to learn French, English is the language of choice for more than half of all new arrivals to the province.

Copyright (C) 2004 CBC. All rights reserved.



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CanWest News Service
November 24, 2004

Quebec to halt English gains, Charest says
Mike De Souza


QUEBEC - The Quebec government will do whatever it takes to stop the English language from gaining ground in the workplace, Premier Jean Charest said yesterday. "We will always be very vigilant in Quebec on the issue of language," he said. A report released last week by l'Office Quebecois de la langue Francaise revealed English was picking up steam, particularly on the island of Montreal. From 1991 to 2001, the use of English grew by 2% while the use of French increased by 1.7%, the report said. "Where we will find that we are not making progress, or where we may be losing ground, we will ask l'Office recommendations, and do whatever we have to do to tighten things up," Mr. Charest said.

© National Post 2004

National Post
November 29, 2004

Language in the air


Letting go can be tough on some parents. And it is apparently impossible for some governments. Last Wednesday, Air Canada made an appearance before the Official Languages Committee of the House of Commons to plead its case for fairer treatment under the Official Languages Act since it hasn't been a Crown corporation for more than 15 years. But judging from the sour response by the assembled Liberal MPs, as well as those representing the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois, these regulatory apron strings will remain firmly attached.

Despite the federal government having sold its last shares in Air Canada back in 1989, the Air Canada Public Participation Act still mandates a great deal about how and where the firm can operate. (Additional rules were put in place after it merged with Canadian Airlines in 1999.) Among other things, current legislation requires that the airline have operations in Winnipeg, Montreal and Mississauga, and that it be held to the requirements of the Official Languages Act as if it were a federal institution.

For Ottawa to cash out its stock and still act like a controlling shareholder is patently unfair. As Air Canada senior vice-president Duncan Dee pointed out in his presentation before the Commons committee last week, none of the airline's competitors -- WestJet, Jetsgo and others -- face the same bilingualism requirements. And the cost of abiding by these standards is not insignificant: Mr. Dee estimated Air Canada spent $140-million on language training over six months alone to bring Canadian Airlines staff up to snuff after the merger. With the firm having just emerged from bankruptcy protection, one can only imagine the degree to which federal rules and legislation contributed to its troubles.

Certainly, Air Canada has not been blameless in its own near-demise. It did, as Liberal MP Jean-Claude D'Amours pointed out this week, enter into its agreement to purchase Canadian Airlines with its eyes open. And the company has made many blunders on its own. But that's no reason for Ottawa to heap other unique problems onto it.

While Mr. Dee's purpose in Ottawa was to extract money from the federal government to pay for his firm's bilingualism requirements -- or, failing that, to force his competitors to abide by the same rules -- the better solution would be to remove the Official Languages Act requirements altogether. Air Canada, like any other business, should be able to decide on its own when and where to provide bilingual services based on local demand.

Cloaked by regulations and heavy-handed government interference, what the Canadian airline industry has long lacked is market discipline. Why not begin by letting the market decide what language services are necessary?

© National Post 2004