We generally draw up a report at the end of the journey. But this is not the case of that proposed by Éric Caire to Duty on his achievements as minister. The elected official hopes to calm down “the bad press” he is the subject of — on the way to a digital health record which will be, he promises, practically impeccable.
“I am not in the Prime Minister’s head, but even recently, he reaffirmed that he had no intention of reshuffling his ministers,” said from the outset the man who will have been the first person in charge, since his official formation, on 1er January 2022, from the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs. This is what all those who, for a year, have been calling for the departure of this close friend of François Legault will have to stick to.
Éric Caire had also committed to resign if the Coalition Avenir Québec did not succeed in creating a third highway link between Quebec and Lévis. The about-face of the Legault government, which has once again resurrected the project, is therefore a reprieve for the elected representative of the La Peltrie constituency.
Mandated to study the issue, CDPQ Infra recommended this spring against the construction of this third link as a solution to road congestion. After saying that she did not have “data that would justify the establishment of a highway tunnel between the two banks”, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, however found a loophole in what CDPQ Infra did not say: it would be the economic security of the greater Quebec region that would depend on it.
The buoy was launched. Éric Caire clings to it. He goes further: “Studies were done a long time ago in favor of a third link. They can be found on the Ministry of Transport website. »
The oldest study we come across on the ministry’s website dates back to 1973. Ironically, it already called into question at the time the economic relevance of further developing individual transport in the capital region. “Land has become a rare resource and, when we want to use it for the construction of roads, we must face competition from other imperatives, in terms of housing and industrial construction,” observed geologist Lucienne Lamy Found half a century ago, well before the current debates on housing and urban density.
Two visions
The day a real assessment is made of his performance as minister, Éric Caire hopes that it will focus on the implementation of the digital health file led by his colleague Christian Dubé. “For me, if there is a project that will be a game changer, that’s the one, he continues. What we have done in recent years will make it possible. We have worked a lot on its foundations, which are barely perceptible to ordinary people, but necessary to move forward. »
“What we have done in recent years” is where the heart of the problem lies for this minister, who is used to vacillating to avoid criticism. Because a whole river separates what the public sees and the achievements presented by the elected official of the constituency of La Peltrie, north of Quebec.
He lists: since 2022, his ministry has completed more than 500 projects in cybersecurity and computer data management without any notable hitch. This includes the creation of the Government Cyber Defense Center and the ambitious Law 25 adapting the protection of personal information to today’s digital world. The pandemic also forced a shift toward teleworking that Mr. Caire’s ministry led. “In 2020, we could connect 750 people remotely. With the pandemic, 58,000 had to be connected.”
This process, however, slowed down the planned consolidation of government computer processing centers, which the ministry still wishes to reduce from 550 to 4. “In 2020, all our resources were used for teleworking: telemedicine, online justice, education at distance… It had an impact. »
The promise made in 2019 by the Legault government to save up to $100 million per year from 2022 by consolidating its IT infrastructure has therefore been pushed back to 2028 at the earliest.
Naturally, the public is outraged by unfulfilled promises and their ever-increasing costs. The launch of SAAQclic, which was to propel the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) directly into the 21st centurye century, instead generated huge queues in front of the orange-brown counters of the state company. Online voting, which was to be tested during the 2025 municipal elections, has been abandoned.
The digital wallet, a kind of virtual identity card valid everywhere within the government and even elsewhere, has also fallen behind schedule. This one is coming next year, promises Éric Caire. He adds: “SAAQclic’s bad press has affected the Government Authentication Service (SAG), but these are two different projects. »
The confusion can be explained: the SAG is partially adopted by the SAAQ, as well as by the Ministry of Family. Mr. Caire indicates that 1.4 million accounts have been created, 12 million authentications have taken place, and that no identity theft or fraudulent intrusion has occurred.
“It’s a robust and reliable system to which we will add other services. We are talking with the federal government. If this comes to fruition, we will use the same account for Revenu Québec, the Canada Revenue Agency, the health record, the SAAQ — and I hope that with agreements with the other provinces, we will be able to use the Quebec identity form an ocean to another. »
Healthcare in the cloud
If SAAQclic is not his responsibility and if unforeseen events like the pandemic excuse most of the past shortcomings, on what does Éric Caire want us to judge his ministry, ultimately? The digital health record, the DSN, he says.
“The DSN will work and it will be perceptible to the public. This will be the end of the fax machine and the hospital card. Doctors will have faster access to patient data. The whole system will be more efficient. » Éric Caire does not comment on the timetable: “I will let Christian Dubé talk about that. »
On the other hand, he promises that patient data will be hosted directly by the government and not by the usual foreign giants (Microsoft, Amazon or others). “Our sensitive and strategic data will be in the government cloud. For non-sensitive data, each ministry has its responsibility. »
He specifies that the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, is working to change the government’s call for tenders process to facilitate access to the public market for Quebec companies often dumped by these same technological giants.
This deference from Eric Caire, necessary for a minister who has a supporting role for his peers, annoys his detractors to the highest degree. When things go well, he gets part of the bouquet. When things go wrong… an assessment may become necessary.