CBC/Radio-Canada has replaced Sylvain Lafrance with Louis Lalande as the new EVP of French services.

Lalande, who has worked at Radio Canada for nearly 30 years, served as interim EVP since September 2011 when Lafrance made a surprise exit following 33 years at the pubcaster.

His sudden departure followed the end, via court settlement, of a long-running legal dispute between Lafrance and Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau. Speculation at the time linked Lafrance’s departure from the pubcaster to the dispute, a connection Lafrance at the time denied.

Peladeau in 2007 sued Lafrance as part of a $700,000 defamation suit for calling him a voyou, which translates as “thug” or “delinquent,” in a Quebec newspaper interview after Quebecor stopped paying into the then-Canadian Television Fund, a key source of funding for the CBC.

The case was settled out of court last summer.

Since 2006, Lalande served as executive director of regional services, overseeing all French-language TV, radio and web programming in the regions.

“Louis has the leadership qualities we need to continue developing Radio-Canada in line with our three main priorities: regions, digital platforms and distinctive programming,” CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert T. Lacroix said Monday in a statement.