In an unprecedented turn of events that has rocked Quebec’s political landscape, Premier François Legault testified before a parliamentary committee Thursday regarding the disastrous rollout of SAAQclic, an online vehicle registration platform that has ballooned into a $500 million fiasco. The premier’s rare appearance before the committee marks only the second time in his six-year tenure that he has been summoned to explain a government failure of this magnitude.
“I take full responsibility,” Legault conceded during his testimony, though he quickly pivoted to defend his government’s overall digital transformation strategy. “If there’s someone to blame, it’s me,” he stated, while simultaneously maintaining that the SAAQclic debacle represents an anomaly among Quebec’s digital initiatives rather than a systemic problem.
The SAAQclic platform, launched in February 2023, was intended to streamline vehicle registration services for Quebec drivers. Instead, it created unprecedented chaos, with waiting times at service centers skyrocketing to eight hours or more. The government was forced to deploy hundreds of additional workers and extend service hours to manage the crisis, which has persisted for over a year.
Opposition parties have seized on the scandal, with Québec Solidaire spokesperson Christine Labrie describing the situation as “a case study in how not to manage a digital transformation.” Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy pushed Legault to explain why his government ignored early warning signs about the platform’s readiness, citing internal documents that predicted the eventual breakdown.
The financial toll has been staggering. What began as a $458 million project has now exceeded $500 million, with additional costs still being calculated. The government’s decision to proceed with the launch despite technical warnings has raised serious questions about oversight and accountability within Quebec’s digital transformation initiatives.
Eric Caire, the minister responsible for government digital transformation, has faced intense scrutiny but has thus far retained Legault’s support. During his testimony, the premier defended Caire while acknowledging that “mistakes were made” in the project’s execution and supervision.
Industry experts interviewed by CO24 News point to fundamental flaws in the government’s approach to major IT projects. “There’s a persistent pattern of political timelines trumping technical realities,” explained Dr. Sylvie Bernier, a digital governance specialist at Université de Montréal. “When warnings from technical teams are ignored to meet political deadlines, the public ultimately pays the price.”
Documents obtained through access to information requests reveal that SAAQ officials had raised alarms about the platform’s readiness as early as November 2022, three months before its disastrous launch. These warnings specifically highlighted inadequate testing and training periods for staff who would need to use the new system.
The parliamentary committee has expanded its investigation beyond the SAAQclic failure to examine broader patterns in Quebec’s political approach to digital transformation. At stake is not only the considerable financial cost but also public trust in government’s ability to modernize essential services.
As this scandal continues to unfold, the question remains: will Quebec’s government implement meaningful structural changes to prevent similar costly failures, or will SAAQclic simply become another expensive lesson that fails to transform how digital projects are managed in the public sector?
