(Quebec and Montreal) François Legault deplores “serious planning shortcomings” in the IT transition of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), and requests an evaluation of the work of the Board of Directors and the big boss of the organization, Denis Marsolais.
“There was a planning problem at the SAAQ. It’s clear. And what I want, in the next few days, the next few weeks, is to evaluate the work of the Board of Directors of the SAAQ, and of the President of the SAAQ. There has obviously been a serious planning flaw at the SAAQ,” the premier said Tuesday during a press briefing at the National Assembly.
He added “that we cannot think that we will close offices for three weeks, and that the day we will reopen, that there will not be an impact”.
Mr. Legault claims that the state-owned company caused this closure without presenting any transition plan. He cleared his Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital, Éric Caire, who only had an “advisory role in digital transformation for both ministries and state companies”.
The responsibility of the SAAQ
“The SAAQ has final responsibility, including its IT department,” concluded Mr. Legault. His government had to announce a series of measures last week, including a grace period for motorists and truckers unable to renew their permits.
But several citizens had difficulty creating their account for the Government Authentication Service (SAG), for which Éric Caire is responsible. Citizens can also, since Monday, create their account directly in a branch of the SAAQ, by obtaining help on site. But Mr. Legault and his government believe that the problem is more on the side of the failures of the SAAQcliq platform.
The opposition parties did not buy the government’s version. The interim leader of the PLQ, Marc Tanguay underlines that the problem is still not solved. “Every day, we learn, delays that are extended and extended. This is the announcement that it will take several more months before a tangible solution is put in place, ”he lamented. Faced with the defense of the government, Mr. Tanguay now wonders “what is the point of having a Minister of Digital? », and criticizes Mr. Caire for not having asked the right questions to the SAAQ.
No parliamentary committee
Québec solidaire MP Haroun Bouazzi asked Mr. Caire about the difficulties of registering for the SAG, which his department manages. “Just by putting their identity system online, there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who just won’t make it. What has the minister planned? Nothing,” he said.
Mr. Caire replied that “when this project started to slip on the deployment, there are measures that were put in place”.
This is the first project of a long list of projects. And we’re talking, for that one, of half a billion, that’s $200,000 a day for seven years to achieve this result. How many millions to waste to start trying to understand the problem?
Haroun Bouazzi, MP for Québec solidaire
The Parti Québécois for its part failed to convince the Legault government to study this failure in a parliamentary commission. Deputy Joël Arsenault deplores that the CAQ “has no desire to get to the bottom of things”. “The concept of ministerial responsibility boils down to this at the CAQ: it is the fault of others and the government’s role is limited to commentary,” he mocked.
Remember that the SAAQ had been warned by employees that the digital transition should be more “gradual”, according to their union.
“Concerned” truckers
At the Quebec Trucking Association (ACQ), President Marc Cadieux admitted on Tuesday that he had concerns about the application of the ministerial decree announced yesterday by Minister Geneviève Guilbault, which allows truckers to “regularize their situation” with the SAAQ until June 12.
“We wonder if other Canadian and American administrations will recognize the government’s delays. The message we are sending to the industry is to proceed with the renewals within the normal and usual timeframes if possible,” says Mr. Cadieux.
For thousands of Quebec truckers, the International Registration Plan (IRP) regime has so far expired on March 31. The decree announced Monday by Quebec gives them until June 12 to renew their license.
SAAQ spokesperson Anne Marie Dussault Turcotte assures that an “information sharing mechanism” has been put in place “via the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA)”.
Minister Geneviève Guilbault’s office assures us that a notice of extension will be sent to the depositary of the international agreement, “who will inform without delay the administrations having subscribed to the IRP that the registration certificate” will remain valid until to June 12. “The police forces of these administrations will be invited to refrain from taking action against professional drivers in Quebec,” also promised the press attaché, Louis-Julien Dufresne.
“It’s reassuring that they have this kind of mechanism, but that said, the application of all that on the ground, it remains another dimension. The concern remains that the information reach the field itself,” retorted Marc Cadieux.