In the fall of 2022, Mr. Louis Allain will leave his position as Executive Director of the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (CDEM) to begin a well-deserved retirement. Mr. Allain took over the position in April 2007 from Mariette Mulaire.

Energetic and passionate, Mr. Allain will be taking an active retirement in the near future. Wishing to put his business sense and strategic mind to good use, he will pursue his professional career as an entrepreneur in the field of international trade. We wish him continuity and success in his future projects.

Mr. Philippe Mailhot, Interim President of the Board of Directors of the CDEM, underlines Mr. Allain’s great work in favour of the growth of Manitoba’s Francophone community and economic development: “Since 2007, Louis Allain’s leadership has enabled the CDEM to achieve a number of remarkable successes related to community economic development, tourism, immigration, employability, the integration of youth and support for businesses. By working closely with bilingual communities, entrepreneurs and organizations, Louis is a man of action who actively contributes to the development of Manitoba’s Francophone community and to economic development on a national and international scale.

In the opinion of Justin Johnson, AMBM Chief Executive Officer, “Louis has been a great force within the CDEM and our entire network. He has always recognized that one of the CDEM’s greatest assets is that it serves a territory: Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities. It is from this premise that he has successfully led our economic development engine to many accomplishments, thanks to his qualities as a visionary, developer and diplomat. On behalf of Manitoba’s bilingual municipal leadership, I thank him for his 15 years of dedicated service to our communities.

Originally from the education field, Mr. Allain’s years at the helm of the CDEM have become a second career for him over time. “I have been fortunate to work with people of action with an exceptional spirit of cooperation and collaboration. The municipal teams, as well as Raymond Poirier and my predecessors at the head of the CDEM, have been great allies, through their accessibility and their valuable advice, allowing me to anchor the organization’s positioning at both the provincial and national levels,” he says.

As a subsidiary of the AMBM Group, fulfilling the economic priorities of Manitoba’s 15 bilingual municipalities remains the CDEM’s primary mission.

He hopes to leave behind a stable and dynamic team that will perpetuate the organization’s values of collaboration, commitment and leadership, so that it can continue to contribute to the prosperity of Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities and multiply the structuring effects on Manitoba’s Francophone community.

Here is a sample of the many initiatives undertaken by the CDEM under Mr. Allain’s leadership:

• Joseph Wind Turbine Project (Phases I and II)
• Development of the St. Léon railroad project;
• Francophone immigration and the integration of newcomers into the Manitoba economy (employability);
• Development project of numerous tourism products;
• Creation of a new green economy sector within the CDEM (which later became Eco-West Canada);
• Powerview-Pine Falls forestry project in collaboration with Indigenous communities;
• Project for the creation of African models in economic development, inspired by the CDEM;
• Project to support the creation of economic development organizations under the Association of Municipalities of Mali (AMM) and the Association of Municipalities of Burkina Faso (AMBF) respectively.

Since 2022, in close collaboration with the AMBM and Eco-West Canada (another subsidiary of the AMBM Group), the CDEM has been working to implement the Municipal Economic Recovery Strategy for Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities, which is the result of an extensive consultation with proprietary members by the two AMBM subsidiaries.

Mr. Allain will remain in his position until his successor is officially appointed. The selection process will be conducted by a joint CDEM-AMBM committee, and we hope to have the new executive director in place before the end of 2022.

Information: Office of the Chief Executive Officer (O-CEO), 204-289-4077, [email protected] or CDEM’s Marketing and Communications Director, 204-797-7121, [email protected].