François Legault taking the stand today at Gallant commission looking into SAAQclic fiasco
CBC
Quebec Premier François Legault will testify in front of the Gallant commission Tuesday, as it continues to shed light on the costly rollout of the province's auto insurance board's digital transition.
Legault was formally invoked last week. A number of his cabinet ministers, past and present, have already shared their versions of the facts demonstrating that some knew about the budgetary issues facing the board, known as the SAAQ, before an auditor general revealed them to the public in a scathing report published earlier this year.
Since April, the commission has been leading the public inquiry into the SAAQ's CASA project which was meant to modernize different IT systems and improve the delivery of online services through the SAAQclic platform. Instead, it was launched despite improper testing, infamously causing headaches for its users, and with a $500 million cost overrun, said the auditor general in her February report.
The commission seeks to find out who within the SAAQ and Coalition Avenir Québec government knew what at different stages of the CASA project's development.
It heard testimonies from former cybersecurity minister Éric Caire — who stepped down shortly after the auditor general published her report — as well as former transport minister François Bonnardel and the current minister Geneviève Guilbault.
Health Minister Christian Dubé and Treasury Board President Sonia Lebel, also took the stand last week. Dubé held Lebel's current role from 2018 to 2020.
Among other things, the inquiry has shown, through an email exchange, that Caire knew the CASA project had gone over budget as early as 2021, though he said he wasn't aware of the scope of the overrun at that time.
For her part, Guilbault, who picked up the transport file in October 2022, told the commission that the former director general of the SAAQ, Denis Marsolais, had misled her as to the progress of the project, insinuating that it was respecting the budget. She insisted she learned about the issues plaguing the SAAQ at the same time as everybody else in February but her testimony revealed that she was made aware of overruns in 2023.
She said that by that point, the additional costs were necessary to keep the project — which had already launched — afloat.
The question at hand today is whether critical information had reached the premier's office.
Earlier testimony from Véronik Aubry, who was Bonnardel's chief of staff from 2018 to 2021, suggested that she had shared news of the delays within CASA with a political adviser of Legault's in 2020. She had also warned of a potentially costly legal dispute between the SAAQ and one of its contractors.
The commission will also hear from Martin Koskinen, the premier's chief of staff, and Yves Ouellet, former secretary general and clerk of the Ministry of the Executive Council, later today.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.
The union president called it a rally for solidarity as Iqaluit Housing Authority employees gathered Friday while negotiations are ongoing between the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer.
The federal government is stoking Quebec separatism by walking back its climate commitments — including in its recent deal with Alberta — Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.
The architect of Alberta's politician recall legislation says it was never meant to be used as a political weapon, but as an "ultimate tool of accountability" if a politician engages in illegal or unethical behaviour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced its long-promised involuntary treatment legislation on the final day of the fall sitting.
The Law Society of Ontario has suspended the licence of Deepak Paradkar, one of seven Canadians arrested in connection with alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding’s cocaine smuggling ring.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is getting rid of unlimited mental health benefits for staff, blaming ballooning costs and former administrators for implementing it without proper due diligence or oversight.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division for $72 billion US, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer that has upended the media industry.