It’s a surprise because member states liked it, says a source on Parliament Hill familiar with the matter. It seems that this departure is not as sharp as that of its predecessor, but is surprising because there were no known issues from a management perspective.
The question now is: is it a problem with the administrator or is it a problem with the general secretary? asks our source. In a gesture that was as sudden as it was unexpected, Catherine Cano resigned in October 2020 before the end of her mandate. The OIF then spoke of ongoing differences of opinion, which Catherine Cano did not want to comment on.
It is a crisis that is not entirely open but deep, comments another source centered around the OIF, which we have granted anonymity as it is not authorized to comment. According to her, General Secretary Louise Mushikiwabo and her closest guard create discord around her.
“At the last Francophonie summit in Djerba, there were countless internal tensions. »
— A quote from a source close to the OIF
In the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, we received the information from the main interested party, not from the OIF. It is important, it is said, that the successor knows the apparatus well, because we are still waiting for transparency and strictness reforms. We also agree with Quebec on the selection of the proposed candidates.
But impossible to know who is on the shortlist, Quebec limits itself to saying that we do not know the circumstances of this departure. We have contacts with Minister Joly’s office, we are holding talks about the candidates, according to the office of the Minister for International Relations and La Francophonie, Martine Biron, who has learned that Geoffroi Montpetit’s mandate will not be renewed by his delegation in Paris .
Geoffroi Montpetit, a former Chief of Staff at the Federal Ministry for International Development, was appointed Administrator of the OIF in March 2021. Last November, he gave an interview to Radio-Canada on the sidelines of the Francophonie Summit in Djerba regarding the delay in organizing the Francophonie Games, realizing that the modernization and transparency work begun at the OIF was not yet complete. It’s a marathon, not a sprint: There’s still work to be done, he said when asked about management issues raised in audit reports.
Neither Geoffroi Montpetit nor a spokesman for the OIF could be reached on Tuesday evening.