SNC-Lavalin CEO Ian L. Edwards was born in Scotland. He has previously worked in several regions of the world, including the Middle East, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Living in Quebec for seven years, Ian L. Edwards, boss of one of the flagships of Quebec Inc., SNC-Lavalin, is also preparing to speak almost entirely in English a few days after the linguistic storm created by the CEO from Air Canada, Michael Rousseau.
Mr. Edwards will deliver his speech before an audience of business people from the Canadian Circle, next Monday, on the transformations of the engineering firm, at the center of several corruption cases in recent years.
But because of the Rousseau affair, which continues to shake the business community, the boss also intends to directly address issues related to his unilingual English, we learned from reliable sources.
It should be noted that there will however be simultaneous translation for those present at the event.
Unsuccessful courses
Contacted by Le Journal, SNC-Lavalin confirms that its manager still has great difficulty speaking French even though he has lived in the metropolis since 2014 and that this has been an issue for several years.
“He first took courses in 2016, but the results were inconclusive. However, he recently resumed private lessons in this direction, ”wrote spokesperson Harold Fortin in an email to the Journal .
“Aware and respectful of the fact that French is the official language of
Quebec and as President and CEO of SNC-Lavalin,
Mr. Edwards is committed to redouble his efforts to improve his knowledge of French to the best of its capabilities, ”continued the spokesperson.
The Caisse de depot et placement du Qubec, which is the company's largest shareholder and which denounced the remarks of Michael Rousseau, did not wish to speak about the boss's unilingualism.
"We do not intend to comment on this debate on a case-by-case basis," said spokesperson Maxime Chagnon.
SNC-Lavalin, less Quebecois?
British-born, Mr. Edwards has been running the company since 2019 and had replaced his compatriot Neil Bruce, also unilingual English-speaking.
For years, many have been worried about seeing Quebec lose its influence within SNC-Lavalin.
Currently, six of SNC-Lavalin's 13 most senior executives, or 46%, live in Quebec. This proportion reached 72% in recent years.
Others have expressed concern about the future of the head office in Montreal as the company has pledged to keep it here, but until 2024.