On January 28, my 16-year-old son passed his driving theory test. The next day, the driving school sent him his certificate by e-mail allowing him to produce his learner’s permit. Boy, overjoyed, believed that on January 30, he would have the chance to learn to drive our car under the good advice of dad.
Admit that I just made you laugh?
And yes ! At that time, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) was migrating its computer system and found itself in a period of minimum services.
Never mind, we went to pick up son at school during a study period, promising to pick up this study at home. We naively thought that the SAAQ had provided a contingency solution for all learner drivers in Quebec.
It would have been so simple: we receive the teenager in branch, we see that he has passed his exam using his certificate given by the driving school, we confirm his identity using his card health insurance and his birth certificate and we fill out a form in hand that authorizes him to drive until this damn migration is over.
Well no ! The teenager was turned around, his enthusiasm was cut short and he was told to come back on February 20, while mentioning to him that it would be preferable for him to make an appointment on the SAAQclic platform when would be available.
This is where the story got tough.
On February 20, we presented ourselves again at the SAAQ. The teenager will only have been present in the corridor of this branch for three minutes. She was told to come back in two weeks, reminded that it was best to make an appointment.
At this point, you may be wondering why on earth I persist in not making an appointment for my teenager on SAAQclic. The reason is simple: it is impossible to make an appointment when you are a young minor learner driver. You read correctly.
Indeed, to be able to authenticate on this new platform, you must provide:
- the social insurance number. Not all minors have one;
- health insurance card number;
- a notice of assessment number. Not all miners work;
- driver’s license number. Good. How to say ? Will you allow me not to have to explain why a teenager trying to get his learner’s license… doesn’t have a driver’s license number?
So here we are in a no man’s land. This week, hearing Denis Marsolais, CEO of the SAAQ, explain to Paul Arcand that everything would not return to normal before the end of April, I choked on my coffee.
Know that I am not blaming Mr. Marsolais. Anyone who works within or outside the public service knows how competent, respected, dedicated and committed this man is.
If I write all this, it’s not so much because I find that my teenager is pitiful. He will recover.
No, if I’m writing all this today, it’s because I see that this society tends to forget its young people.
I try to imagine those many meetings where the elements necessary for authentication were discussed. There were surely several people around the table: politicians, civil servants, advisers, external experts and so on. In short, dozens of people.
Not a single human thought to raise their hand and say, “Excuse me, but I think that for teenagers, what we’re asking won’t be possible?” Perhaps we should think of a tailor-made solution for them? »
It seems not. And that is a bit scary. It’s mostly sad.
In closing, let’s add this: in the “machines”, there are humans. And, around these “machines”, there are stakeholders.
If the humans IN the machines and if the stakeholders all constantly answer that they are not responsible for the issue and that they can do absolutely nothing, we agree that we are not out of the hostel ?
In this case, the driving school is a stakeholder. She replies that she can’t do anything. It’s the SAAQ’s fault. The school does not change its own rules. It does not allow young people to continue studying at least their theoretical modules (six and more). She doesn’t allow them to take more than one class a week (what a weird rule, by the way) to possibly catch up. Since the SAAQ saga, she has not communicated once with all of her clients, who nevertheless pay more than $1,000 to take her courses. Worse, she maintains that if the courses are not taken within the prescribed time, there will be additional costs.
Sorry, but in my opinion, here is a stakeholder who contributes to amplifying a hell of a mess rather than contributing positively to attenuating it.
This is not a mood post from a helicopter mother who worries about her darling little teenager.
No. This is a mood post from a 45-year-old citizen who is beginning to worry strangely about our repeated mania for forgetting our own children, about this disengagement that we feel everywhere, about our inability to implement and the wall that we will end up collectively hitting.