In the midst of a crisis at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), the Ministry of Justice invites motorists who have “unfairly” received a ticket for non-payment of their license renewal or registration fees to ” submit a plea of not guilty” as soon as possible.
In a press release published on Monday, the ministry indicates that the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) and the Offenses and Fines Office “are implementing all measures aimed at ensuring that citizens are not not prosecuted or sentenced unjustly because of the situation prevailing at the SAAQ”.
To facilitate the situation, Quebec invites all persons who have received a statement of offense “for having failed to pay the renewal fees for their driver’s license or the registration of their vehicle, in particular, when they had paid their right, to submit a plea of not guilty or to call the number indicated on the back of their statement of offence”.
“Upon receipt of a plea of not guilty, verifications with the SAAQ will be carried out to find out whether the duties had actually been paid at the time the statement of offense was issued or whether the person benefited from an additional period to do it. If necessary, the statement of offense will be withdrawn”, still assures the ministry on this subject.
Moreover, the government also affirms that the stakeholders of the municipal courts “have been informed of the approach adopted by the ministry and the DPCP so that they also take the necessary measures”.
Last Friday, the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, announced a 90-day suspension of the seizure of a vehicle to which a driver who has not renewed his driver’s license is normally exposed. The exception to the rule, however, only concerns users whose permit was not renewed between January 25 and March 9.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Genevieve Guilbault
About 56,000 drivers would be affected in total. They will have until June 7 to renew their license without receiving a ticket. “That already reduces stress and pressure on employers,” said Ms.me Guilbault. As for the approximately 2,000 Quebec truckers whose International Registration Plan (IRP) system expires on March 31, their files will be given priority.
Mme Guilbault and the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital, Éric Caire, must take stock of the situation of the Government Authentication Service (SAG), which is behind the new SAAQClic platform, in the middle of the afternoon on Monday.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Minister Caire had rejected any form of “responsibility” for the imposing queues linked to the transition, instead attacking the senior management of the SAAQ, which he accuses of having badly planned its implementation project from the outset. “Yes, the SAAQ was our first large volume customer, but our service has been tested. And it works,” he hammered.