Former Charbonneau commissioner to lead inquiry into SAAQclic fiasco

Former Charbonneau commissioner Denis Gallant will lead an inquiry into the troublesome digital transition at the SAAQ. (CTV News file)

Back in the National Assembly after a two-week parliamentary recess, the Liberal opposition is bringing the SAAQclic file back to the forefront.

Its House Leader, Monsef Derraji, will request Tuesday afternoon for another inquiry into a possible second contempt of Parliament.

An investigation is already underway by the Committee of the National Assembly (CAP) into Deputy Premier Geneviève Guilbault’s failure to submit an SAAQ annual report on time.

The Liberals want the same commission to investigate the actions of SAAQ executives in misleading parliamentarians, according to the Auditor General.

In her report last month, the AG found that SAAQ had provided “incomplete” information to members of the Committee on Public Administration regarding the digital transition.

“There may well be (...) two investigations by the Committee on the National Assembly. This is unprecedented in the history of Parliament,” said Derraji in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“We want to get to the bottom of this fiasco, which has already cost us $1.1 billion,” he added.

The failed rollout of SAAQclic caused long lineups in front of branches in 2023 and cost $500 million more than expected, for a total that will exceed $1.1 billion in 2025, the AG estimated.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government, which keeps repeating that it was “misled,” has since appointed people who were involved in SAAQclic to other important positions in the government apparatus.

“It just doesn’t add up,” says Derraji. “Where is (former SAAQ CEO) Denis Marsolais? He’s CEO of the Office de la protection des consommateurs. (...) Those who deceived them, well, they appointed them elsewhere.”

The Liberal House Leader says he wants to get to the bottom of things; at the same time, he’s leading a fight to have the minutes of SAAQ board meetings unsealed.

He accuses the board of trying to protect the CAQ by not disclosing the cost overruns of the digital transition, in the middle of the 2022 election campaign.

On Tuesday afternoon, the leaders of each party will deliver their arguments concerning the Liberal Party’s request for an inquiry, after which the President of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy, will judge whether the request is admissible.

If so, the Commission of the National Assembly could be convened to determine whether there has been a contempt of Parliament, in which case Derraji says he expects there will be “sanctions,” including people losing their jobs.

“Québec solidaire will support the Liberals' request,” MNA Guillaume Cliche-Rivard told The Canadian Press. “Light must be shed on this affront to the entire Quebec population.”

The Parti Québécois also takes issue with the fact that “SAAQ senior management and those in charge of the SAAQclic program passed on false and misleading information” to the CAP.

They “falsely led us to believe that SAAQclic’s development was going according to plan, whereas internally, the findings were quite different,” PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé said.

“It is an outrage against the institution of the National Assembly (...) and this action must be severely punished to restore and maintain our trust in SAAQ management,” he added.

For its part, the government refused to reveal the broad lines of the argument it intends to present on Tuesday.

The “execution” of investigations by the Committee on the National Assembly is “rare,” the Assembly’s communications advisor, Béatrice Zacharie, confirmed to The Canadian Press.

The last such investigation, into former Groulx MNA Claude Surprenant, dates back to 2018. Prior to that, the commission investigated former Portneuf MNA and Minister of Agriculture Michel Pagé in 1987.

The Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Éric Caire, was forced to resign from his post on Feb. 27 in the wake of the AG’s devastating report.

At the time, Premier François Legault announced his intention to set up a public commission of inquiry into the SAAQ’s misconduct.

Judge Denis Gallant to head inquiry

On Tuesday morning, its parliamentary leader, Simon Jolin-Barrette, announced that the government was entrusting former Charbonneau commission prosecutor Denis Gallant with the mandate to head this commission of inquiry.

Gallant was also Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions for the City of Montreal and President and CEO of the Autorité des marchés publics.

He must submit his report by Sept. 30, 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 18, 2025.