SAAQclic: Quebec alerted to ‘questionable actions’ in 2017

Two Quebec Liberal ministers were alerted in March 2017 to “questionable actions” by Karl Malenfant in the case of the IT modernization of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ).

A former executive hired under Malenfant’s vice-presidency of information technology (VPTI) had sent a letter to the president of the Treasury Board and the then Minister of Transportation, Pierre Moreau and Laurent Lessard.

She wrote that she wanted to raise “major issues at the SAAQ,” particularly with regard to contract management and conflicts of interest. She had been hired as general manager to oversee, among other things, the strategies, administrative management, and governance of the state-owned corporation’s VPIT.

Her letter was presented on Monday morning as the public hearings by the Gallant Commission resumed, which is investigating the failures of the SAAQ’s digital transition, including the SAAQclic platform.

She states that Malenfant asked her to “carry out certain questionable actions relating to contract management.” The manager, who held the position for a few months in 2016, lists various events to support her claims.

She claims to have been pressured to open the bids for the IT overhaul project before the deadline set for the process. Malenfant eventually gave up on opening the bids, she says.

The civil servant states that, following this episode, the IT boss “began to react strongly” against her. She reports that she was sent home “for no reason” in October 2016 and that, since then, she has been “detached” from her duties and actively seeking employment.

“He simply cited a lack of ‘fit’ with him and some of his close associates,” the whistleblower said.

Her letter also raises issues of conflict of interest. She refers to contracts awarded for “highly strategic mandates” to consultants who had worked with Malenfant in the past at Hydro-Québec and the firm R3D.

These people and “a few others in the civil service form his ‘guard,’” the whistleblower describes. The people from Hydro-Québec have implemented the SAP software package or “are in favor of this software package,” she notes.

In 2017, SAP’s software was selected by the state-owned corporation to implement the SAAQclic platform.

The whistleblower also mentions Malenfant’s hiring of “a contractor from Hydro-Québec for a permanent position as general manager, but without a competitive selection process.”

The manager concludes that her points “reflect a generally problematic and deplorable situation” and that her report is intended to “protect the government from any situation that is prejudicial or appears questionable.”

On Monday, Lessard, who served as Minister of Transportation from August 2016 to October 2017 under the Couillard government, recalled holding a meeting with the Treasury Board after receiving the letter.

He said he contacted the then CEO of the SAAQ, Nathalie Tremblay, so that she could take “appropriate corrective action.” Tremblay finally met with the civil servant a few weeks later, according to what was revealed to the commission.

“I made sure that (the whistleblower) was heard and that the president (of the SAAQ) or her associates could follow up. It’s still quite serious. There were things mentioned in the contracts, ethics,” he told Commissioner Gallant.

Lessard pointed out that this letter came in the wake of the Charbonneau Commission on collusion in the construction industry. The former minister is unaware of any follow-up on these allegations or whether they were brought to the attention of the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC).

“On the Treasury Board side, it seems to me that it was a matter of checking with the UPAC to see if there was any reason to conduct an investigation, because all the elements were there. In my opinion, there is no more Charbonneau Commission than that,” he said.

His successor at Transport, Liberal MP André Fortin, told the Gallant Commission on Monday that he had not personally heard about the letter.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews