Quebec auto board ‘fiasco’ could be largest scandal since Charbonneau commission

MONTREAL — The Quebec government is grappling with a controversy that could be the biggest political scandal in the province since the Charbonneau commission, which found deep corruption in the construction industry, observers say.

The fiasco over the digital transformation of Quebec’s auto insurance board, involving half a billion dollars in cost overruns, has dominated headlines in Quebec since the auditor general published a damning report nearly two weeks ago. It has already claimed one minister in the province’s Coalition Avenir Québec government.

On Sunday, Premier François Legault announced he will launch a public inquiry to shed light on the affair, following a steady trickle of news reports suggesting members of his government were aware of problems with the board’s new online platform ahead of its disastrous launch.

“You not only have the right, but you are correct to be angry,” he said on X. “We are going to get to the bottom of things.”

Émilie Foster, an adjunct professor of political management at Carleton University and former CAQ member of the legislature, said Quebec hasn’t witnessed this kind of controversy since the Charbonneau commission — a public inquiry that investigated corruption in the construction sector, such as the infiltration of organized crime in public contracts, and the illegal financing of political parties. The commission delivered its final report in November 2015.

“This is a major scandal,” Foster said of the auto insurance board. “Like we haven’t seen in Quebec for a long time.”

In early 2023, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec botched the rollout of its new online platform, SAAQclic, which led to major delays and long lineups at SAAQ branches, where Quebecers take road tests, register vehicles, and renew driver’s licences.

“There were lineups for hours and hours,” said Foster, who left the government in 2022. “People were freezing to go to the SAAQ.”

The debacle roared back to life last month, when Quebec’s auditor general revealed cost overruns of at least $500 million in the creation of the online platform, for a total cost of more than $1.1 billion.

At first, Legault’s ministers claimed they had been unaware of the ballooning cost and accused the auto board of lying to them. But media reports have since suggested at least two ministers and the executive council office, headed by Quebec’s top civil servant, were aware of problems before the launch of SAAQclic in February 2023.

Amid mounting pressure, Éric Caire stepped down last Thursday as cybersecurity and digital technology minister.

In an interview Monday on Radio-Canada, Legault said he has nothing to hide. “I didn’t know there were cost overruns. I didn’t know there would be lineups and a fiasco like that,” he said, adding that the inquiry will wrap up before the next election in October 2026.

Foster said the SAAQclic scandal doesn’t yet appear to be a case of government corruption, unlike the investigation of the province’s construction industry, which saw former mayors and construction entrepreneurs convicted on criminal charges. But she said the inquiry could be very damaging for a government already flagging in the polls. “This is a major exposure risk,” she said. “The government will be on the defensive constantly.”

Martine Valois, a law professor at Université de Montréal, said the controversy shows that problems identified by the Charbonneau commission have not been solved, including weak oversight of public contracts.

Another similarity between the two scandals, she said, is a lack of expertise within the public service, which leaves the government at the mercy of companies “who know they are dealing with people who don’t have sufficient knowledge to evaluate the product they are purchasing.”

Last week, the government asked the province’s financial watchdog — Autorités des marchés publics — and the anti-corruption police to investigate the matter. But that didn’t satisfy opposition parties, which for days demanded a public inquiry before Legault yielded to the pressure over the weekend.

In a letter to Legault on Monday, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suggested it’s unlikely the premier was not informed of the problems at the auto board if his ministers and the top civil servant were aware. “The official version of the government therefore still does not hold water,” he wrote.

Monsef Derraji, a Liberal member of the legislature, said he wants answers about the SAAQ’s decision to hide $222 million in cost overruns from the public during the 2022 election campaign by splitting it into smaller amounts — to avoid “media and political risk,” according to the auditor general.

“This is the biggest, biggest problem,” he said in an interview.

Québec solidaire member Haroun Bouazzi said the SAAQclic debacle is just one example of a systemic problem in Quebec. He pointed to other cases of IT projects whose costs have ballooned, including one launched by the former Liberal government to modernize the human resources system for government employees.

“I think it’s important to find why we’re so bad at delivering any technology system,” he said, adding that the fiasco doesn’t bode well for projects that are “way more complex than dealing with who’s driving which car.”

“They actually got it wrong by $500 million,” Bouazzi said of the auto board. “You have to spend $1 million a day for two years to actually get there. It’s insane.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press