Just before the SAAQclic fiasco, the Public Protector had warned senior managers of the perils of such a digital shift. Their response ? ” All [est] planned for a successful transition. »
Marc-André Dowd submitted his 2022-2023 annual report on Thursday. He returns in particular to the saga of the digital transition of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ).
As this migration approaches, the Public Protector has “intensified” its exchanges with them starting in the summer. He issued warnings throughout the fall. On January 26, a meeting was organized in high places.“Concerned by the repercussions of the transition to SAAQclic, the Public Protector questioned the SAAQ regarding the measures put in place, given the scale of this pivotal stage,” it is written in the report. “The organization responded that everything had been planned for a successful transition. Rather, reality has proven the opposite. »
With hindsight, Marc-André Dowd judges that “the SAAQ underestimated the consequences of the suspension of the majority of its services from January 26 to February 19, 2023, and the accumulation of transactions left pending during this period” . It also “underestimated the demand at the time of reopening its services, and it was not able to respond”. According to vice-protector Claude Dussault, the SAAQ thus found itself at the heart of a “perfect storm”.
Mr. Dowd writes that the SAAQ should have done “better planning for the digital shift” and ensured “more effective communication with citizens”.
The observations of the Québec Ombudsman are similar to those of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which concluded in an external audit that the SAAQ had underestimated the workload linked to the digital transition. The union which represents 2,200 SAAQ employees also claims that it had warned managers that the new SAAQclic service was not ready.
SAAQclic’s failures cost at least $2.6 million in overtime. The president and CEO of the SAAQ, Denis Marsolais, was fired in April.
Partisan appointments under Prud’homme
In a completely different vein, the report from the Public Protector lifts the veil on favoritism practices at the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) after the arrival of former director Martin Prud’homme.
Marc-André Dowd recalls that “voices were raised” to denounce “an internal culture of favoritism” during the appointment of new managers at the SQ. “And indeed, according to the investigation by the Public Protector, authorities circumvented the rules by awarding positions and promotions to people of their choice,” he wrote.
The report highlights that in 2015 — the year following Mr. Prud’homme’s appointment — the SQ “modified its staffing policy and thus lowered certain requirements attached to management positions.” The police organization also “implemented frequent and excessively long temporary work”.
However, “in the majority of cases”, the person who acted as interim for a position was then appointed to the same position. “This mode of operation therefore led to targeted appointments, with people placed on an interim basis having a clear advantage when the competition opened,” judges the Public Protector.
He adds that managers responsible for competitions for positions also encouraged qualified people to withdraw or not apply for a position. “This request was not made because of their profile, but rather to leave the field open to someone else,” notes the report.
Martin Prud’homme was dismissed in 2020 on the recommendation of a group of experts. The committee had accused him of having committed deontological and ethical faults, which the former big boss of the SQ has always defended.