Premier François Legault’s office was informed in 2020 of a delay in the deployment of the SAAQclic platform and of a dispute with the consortium that could lead to cost overruns.
Véronik Aubry, who served as Chief of Staff to former Transport Minister François Bonnardel from 2018 to 2021, testified Wednesday afternoon at the Gallant Commission.
Following a meeting in July 2020 with the then CEO of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), Nathalie Tremblay, Aubry said she had a discussion with the political advisor in the Premier’s office, Ariane Gauthier.
Aubry said she briefed her on the latest developments related to the SAAQ’s digital shift. The platform’s deployment has been delayed by one year.
“I remember mentioning the project’s postponement to two people: Ariane at the Premier’s Office. However, I reassured her regarding the costs, saying that, for now, we were still in the same scenario of $458 million,” said Aubry.
Did she provide the nuance that a dispute is ongoing between the SAAQ and the consortium, and that this could have “financial implications?” asked commission counsel Mélanie Tremblay.
“I mentioned it to Gauthier,” replied Aubry. She said she also informed someone in the office of the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Éric Caire, about the timeline, but she believes she failed to mention the litigation aspect and its possible financial impacts.
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Legault has so far always pleaded ignorance surrounding the cost overruns related to the SAAQ’s IT modernization project. The latter is expected to cost at least $1.1 billion, or $500 million more than expected, according to the Auditor General.
Legault’s former right-hand man at the Ministère du Conseil exécutif, Yves Ouellet, knew as early as Sept. 7, 2022, that SAAQclic’s costs were exploding, according to testimony from former SAAQ CEO Denis Marsolais at the Gallant Commission in late spring.
Aubry recalled that, during her meeting with Tremblay in July 2020, the latter was confident that she would stay within budget, despite the dispute.
In October of that same year, Tremblay informed Aubry that a conclusion had been reached in the dispute and that the agreement would have no financial impact.
A few months later, in 2021, Aubry learned that the total bill would exceed $458 million, since the SAAQ’s internal expenses for the project also had to be calculated.
“It was the first time we were told there was another amount, that it wasn’t just $458 million. There was also an amount for the SAAQ’s contribution,” Aubry told Commissioner Denis Gallant.
“Piecemeal Information”
Earlier Wednesday, a former colleague of Aubry’s in Minister Bonnardel’s office was criticized for not having sufficiently pursued the SAAQ, even though the project was presenting certain difficulties.
The political advisor responsible for SAAQ issues from 2019 to 2022, Alain Généreux, said during his testimony that he was reassured by the SAAQ’s explanations regarding the progress of its digital transformation, despite indications regarding costs, numerous anomalies to be corrected, and the postponement of features.
Commissioner Gallant expressed his incomprehension at this sentiment from the political advisor, who described himself as “a pickle.”
“Your job is to get answers. And I have the impression that, at the end of the day, what emerges is that you are satisfied with fragmentary information, when there are (…) real signals,” he emphasized.
Généreux maintained that the information provided by the SAAQ was accurate at the time.
“For us, the project is greenlit in October 2022, even if there are resource issues, even if there is a 2.5 delivery because we will deliver certain features later,” said the man, who still works with Bonnardel, now Minister of Public Security.
Généreux mentioned that information was difficult to get to the cabinet.
In his recommendations, he stated that he would have liked to know the findings of the SAAQ’s internal auditors who had raised flags in the years before the launch of the SAAQclic platform.
Several testified at the start of the commission’s public hearings.
“What I heard shocked me, because it’s the kind of information that, for us, allows us to play judo and challenge decisions, then challenge the machine on certain issues,” said Généreux.
The Minister’s office had access to summaries of Ernst & Young’s audit reviews of the project. Some of those presented to the committee also raised concerns.
“Highly problematic”
Commissioner Gallant also expressed “serious concern” that the actual costs of the IT project called CASA (Carrefour des services d’affaires) had been deliberately concealed from other elected officials in March 2021.
Minister Bonnardel’s office had in hand a document indicating a total budget of $682 million. The SAAQ chose not to share this information with the members of the National Assembly’s Public Administration Committee (CAP). Instead, they had access to a document indicating a cost of $458 million.
Généreux explained Wednesday that the agreement between the SAAQ and the Treasury Board only provided for accountability for the $458 million contract with the consortium and not for the costs incurred internally by the company.
He also argued that the SAAQ’s annual management report contained details on the organization’s IT budget, although it did not detail the costs associated with CASA.
Généreux acknowledged that the Crown corporation could have been more transparent.
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Commissioner Gallant also said he considered it “highly problematic” that the elected officials sitting on the CAP were not informed in May 2020 of a likely postponement of the SAAQclic rollout.
At a time when replanning was underway, the SAAQ and the minister’s office decided to remove this information from the document reporting the situation as of Dec. 31, 2019, according to an email presented to the committee.
Aubry defended this choice. She maintained that the decision on a new timeline was not yet “set in stone” and that the document was intended to report only information for the year 2019.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
