At the time, Jean Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas, was the State Secretary of Navy in charge of colonial intendants. In the case of New France, Maurepas wanted "a more obedient, down-to-earth and efficient man with whom to replace Claude-Thomas Dupuy," the intendant from 1725 to 1728. On March 8, 1729, Maurepas formally commissioned Hocquart to perform the functions of Intendant in remote New France as commissaire-ordonnateur, a rank below that of Intendant. This measure was adopted to give Hocquart a trial period of two years. Indeed, two years later, Hocquart would be promoted to the full rank of Intendant in March 1731.