“It’s true, it was a fiasco” at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), admitted Thursday, in the middle of the Blue Salon, the Minister responsible for Digital, Éric Caire.
He was once again facing a barrage of criticism over the failed digital shift at the SAAQ. Despite everything, the Minister maintains that nothing in November foreshadowed the crisis to come.
“The lights are green, the budget is respected, the deadlines are respected, the scope of the project is respected, the tests are done, the analyzes are done,” says Mr. Caire.
“In the name of what would we have prevented the deployment of this project, Madam President? he asked. In the end, “the deployment was catastrophic, but the SAAQclic application works well,” he added.
Minister Cairo was forced to admit, however, that “it was a fiasco”.
“Could we have prepared better? Could we have communicated better? Could citizens have been better informed? The answer to that is yes. »
“On the execution, it was a fiasco. What we are saying, with my colleague the Deputy Prime Minister, is that we will solve the problem and then, after that, we will do the autopsy of this fiasco, ”he added.
The opposition has been criticizing the Legault government for several days for not taking responsibility for the failures of the SAAQ’s turn and instead pointing the finger at the directors of the state-owned company.
Prime Minister François Legault said on Tuesday that he would in the coming weeks “evaluate” the work of the president and CEO and the board of directors of the SAAQ.
Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, recalled that she had cut short her mission in Europe to come and manage the crisis at the SAAQ “by myself”.
“If there is a person who has taken his share of responsibility in this situation, it is me. She clarified with a timid “like all of my government colleagues, by the way”.