SAAQclic fiasco: Premier Legault tells inquiry he only learned of cost overruns in February

All eyes were on Quebec Premier François Legault Tuesday as he appeared before the Gallant Commission, saying that he only learned about cost overruns at the province’s auto insurance board in February 2025.

“Should I have known about it? I think so,” the premier told Commissioner Denis Gallant, adding that it was “not normal” he wasn’t informed before the auditor general’s report laid out digital platform’s ballooning expenses.

His remarks clash with earlier testimonies that suggest the premier’s office was warned as early as 2020 about the risks tied to SAAQclic’s $1.1-billioin price tag — nearly double the original budget.

One witness testified that in September 2022 the province’s top civil servant at the time, Yves Ouellet, was alerted to a $222-million shortfall in the online platform.

The $222 million figure was raised again during the premier’s testimony, where Legault was confronted with a document published by the SAAQ in 2022. It showed that the SAAQ had driven up their suppliers’ payment by the same amount — bumping up the price by 48 per cent.

The document had first been presented to then-transportation minister François Bonnardel, who at the time discovered that the full project was pegged at $682 million. Until then, Bonnardel believed SAAQclic was limited to its initial $458-million supplier contract.

The premier testified that the deal with suppliers should have been made clearer from the start, and that the SAAQ should have communicated those changes to the government as soon as they happened.

“I want everyone to be accountable, and I didn’t feel that from certain people,” Legault said, referring to the SAAQ.

The premier added that the main problem lay with the leaders of the SAAQ, who he said miscalculated the project’s costs which lead to overruns in the 2017 contract with suppliers.

Transport ministry ultimately responsible, Legault says

It was ultimately the responsibility of Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault to flag the price overruns of SAAQclic, Legault said, with the treasury board, Minister of Finance and Minister of  Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs only being limited to advisory roles.

He admitted his ministers could have pressed harder, but argued they were misled in an environment where no clear line of responsibility existed. Information was circulating, he said, but often in fragments and inconsistently.

“It was in a context where the urgency was to restore services and information was not clear,” he said.

The premier closed his testimony with a sharp warning on accountability, saying that there must be real consequences for those responsible for the fiasco.

“It is important that there be consequences for these people, and a consequence that isn’t transferring someone to another position,” he said. “Quebecers expect there to be consequences.”

All eyes still fixed on Legault ahead of 2026 election: political analyst

Political analysts say Premier François Legault may have admitted he should have known more about the SAAQclic cost overruns, but that doesn’t mean the controversy is behind him.

Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, warns the Gallant Commission’s final report could still land a heavy blow to the CAQ, especially with the 2026 provincial election approaching.

“The report can be very damning for his government,” Béland said. “We’ll see how Commissioner Denis Gallant perceives the testimony of François Legault. He will comment on that, I’m sure, directly or indirectly in the report.”

Legault’s testimony also coincides with a cabinet shuffle meant to refresh the government’s image. But Béland doubts the move will have much impact, saying public attention is firmly fixed on the CAQ’s role in the SAAQclic fiasco.

“Quebecers will still be mad about this whole debacle, and they will blame his government — and in a way François Legault — for this,” he said. “In the end, he’s the premier.”

— With files from the Canadian Press