Quebec premier orders independent public inquiry into SAAQclic fiasco
Inquiry to focus on who bore the responsibility in chaotic launch of the online platform
Quebec Premier François Legault is ordering an independent and public inquiry into the SAAQclic "fiasco," he wrote in a post to X on Sunday afternoon.
The premier wrote that after "thinking about [the fiasco] all weekend," he asked Quebec's secretary general to prepare a decree launching the investigation as soon as possible to shed light on the players responsible — both at the administrative and political levels.
"When there are failures in government, even if it is within a Crown corporation, in the end it is we who are accountable to the population and we must assume this responsibility," wrote the premier.
The lengthy social media post comes after mounting political pressure, the resignation of former minister responsible for cybersecurity and digital technology Éric Caire, and a devastating report from the auditor general into the SAAQclic launch.
SAAQclic is the online platform of Quebec's automobile insurance board, known as the SAAQ. It was meant to simplify and modernize processes like renewing a driver's license or scheduling a driving test. Instead, its launch in February 2023 was marked by computer glitches and administrative errors, producing long lines outside SAAQ offices.
On Feb. 20, 2025, Quebec's auditor general Guylaine Leclerc published a report which found that the SAAQ had blown through its budget, with about $500 million in projected cost overruns, and that there were serious problems with transparency about the issues facing the new system.
Legault made reference to those findings in his post.
"The right information was not transmitted, the project was poorly planned and it was commissioned when everything was not ready. This is unacceptable," he said.
He said this new investigation will complement the work already being done by the auditor general and AMP, the Quebec agency overseeing public contracts. Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault also asked her own department to investigate the matter last week and reached out to Quebec's anti-corruption unit, which was reportedly already looking into it.
Legault said he won't hesitate to sanction people after the investigation is over if he has to.
Last Thursday, Quebec's minister responsible for cybersecurity and digital technology, Éric Caire, announced he was resigning as minister, saying the debacle had become too much of a distraction for him to fulfil his role.
Opposition calls for broader mandate, quick results
Quebec Liberal Party MNA Monsef Derraji said in an interview with CBC's Daybreak that Legault's decision to launch a public inquiry was positive though long-awaited. Derraji hopes an inquiry will finally bring answers to questions he and other members of the opposition have been asking for the last couple of weeks, such as what the government already knew about SAAQclic before it launched.
"What happened during June 2022 to September 2022? It's before election time, we had a problem with the SAAQ [asking] for more money and the minister Éric Caire, he finds a solution because he don't want to have a problem during this campaign," said Derraji.
Derraji called for the results of the inquiry to be published before the next provincial election in 2026, a demand echoed by other politicians like Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
In a post on X, Plamondon outlined seven demands for the upcoming inquiry. Notably, he wants the government to un-redact meeting minutes related to SAAQclic, publish the invoices of the companies involved and the number of workers they hired.
Plamondon said the inquiry's mandate should include examining the government's entire digitalisation effort, something Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal also called for in a post to X.
Daniel Béland, the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, said Legault could use the inquiry as a political shield, deflecting blame while awaiting results.
"This will also make the story last longer in a way, but it will diffuse the risk, at least temporarily and lower the temperature but of course, it's a Pandora's box because we don't know what will come out of this inquiry," he said.
"I didn't think he had much of a choice because it's a big distraction for the government right now," said Béland.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
