Gilles Hocquart

After a few rentable years, New France's fragile economy began to crumble, and by the end of his contract, Hocquart was held responsible for too many extraordinary expenses.

In 1725, now aged 31, Hocquart took on the position of Port controller permanently, which made him a financial officer with broad responsibilities including finances and material resources at Rochefort.

[8] At the time, Jean Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas, was the State Secretary of Navy in charge of colonial intendants.

[11] During his long stay at Rochefort, Hocquart received a lengthy training which prepared him to handle most of the bureaucratic functions of a colonial Intendant.

"[14] This belief would prove costly; although some industries like fishery and private shipbuilding were greatly enhanced by Hocquart's' financial support, most of the economy suffered from a lack of organization.

Maurepas noted that Hocquart, unlike several of his predecessors, made "virtually no suggestions for constitutional reforms designed to redistribute government power in his favour.

"[16] Moreover, it was found that, though "flexible in his methods, Hocquart possessed the sort of narrow, dogged intelligence that is often better suited to carrying out policies than to formulating them."

The long period of administrative harmony that prevailed between him and Governor Beauharnois during the 1730s is proof that Hocquart was eager to cooperate, rather than stir up animosity.

Horton notes that Hocquart was more practical than his predecessor, therefore also more reluctant to propose changes before familiarizing himself on a first-hand basis with Canadian conditions.

[21] Although he held many powers, Hocquart tried to remain on amiable terms with his contemporaries, notably Governor Beauharnois, by respecting both their boundaries.

[22] Hoquart's immediate predecessors, Michel Bégon and Claude-Thomas Dupuy, had failed miserably at convincing the habitants to clear new concessions and the seigneurs to settle new tenants.

"[25] In 1731, to encourage settlement and to tie all of New France's agricultural regions more closely to the town markets, Hocquart initiated a major road-building program.

[28] So, Hocquart issued other ordinances which were aimed at regulating the habitant's life more closely in the hope of making him a more productive farmer.

According to Horton, the fur trade was pictured as a major factor behind the slow development of agriculture and industry, because "its profits, rapid returns and simple barter transactions, were more attractive than the comparatively long-term risks of more sophisticated enterprises.

"[33] In short, Hocquart was expected to shift the axis of Canada's commercial economy from the fur trade to agriculture and industry.

Indeed, while French officials recognized that the fur trade was still the linchpin of Canadian commerce, they were concerned about its negative impact on the non-fur economy which they were convinced would be the colony's mainstay in the future.

"[41] But after 1731, Hocquart claimed that this was an unfeasible endeavour, since "the geographic considerations alone made it impossible to patrol all of the illegal trade routes effectively.

With the exception of the fisheries and small-scale shipbuilding, none of the private industries launched during the period between 1733 and 1736 showed signs of growth into a major enterprise.

[45] Another factor that hindered the development of a fully diversified commercial economy, was that New France simply did not possess the manpower to sustain such enterprises.

[47] Thus, Hocquart might not have succeeded in creating the large enterprises he had imagined, but his input in Canadian affairs accounted for the most prosperous period in the history of New France up to date.

[48] Hocquart had originally convinced Maurepas that, with initial support from the state, these ventures could succeed in developing private export industries.

[51] A crisis was inevitable and, when it occurred, Hocquart possessed neither the credit nor the firm government presence in the countryside that might have permitted him to alleviate some of its worst effects.

[53] Nevertheless, Hocquart continued to channel most of the benefits from government expenditures in the colony to Canadian merchants, which angered his fellow officials, like Governor Beauharnois.

[54] Finally, the War of the Austrian Succession, from 1744 to 1748, crushed whatever hopes Hocquart entertained of revitalizing his private industries policy.