SAAQclic: Former SAAQ CEO Nathalie Tremblay gives her version of events

When Karl Malenfant was hired in 2013, Nathalie Tremblay, former CEO of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), was unaware that he had encountered difficulties at Hydro-Québec.

She made this statement on Monday morning before the Gallant Commission, which is investigating the SAAQclic fiasco. “No allegations (…) were brought to my attention,” she said.

Tremblay’s testimony is of paramount importance to the commission, as she held the highest position at the SAAQ from 2010 to 2022.

She left the company shortly before the failed rollout of SAAQclic, which caused huge lines in front of branches in the winter of 2023.

In Feb. 2025, Quebec’s auditor general stated in a report that the SAAQ’s digital shift is expected to cost at least $1.1 billion by 2027, which is $500 million more than anticipated.

According to several witnesses, before joining the SAAQ as Vice President of Information Technology, Malenfant had failed in his digital project at Hydro-Québec.

Tremblay testified on Monday that she had never heard of these setbacks. The headhunter Hodgers, who had submitted Malenfant’s name to her, had not mentioned them either.

Five years later, in 2018, journalist Pierre-Paul Biron of the Journal de Québec reported that Malenfant’s computer project at Hydro-Québec was “described at the time as a ‘fiasco.'”

“In 2013, I didn’t know about Hydro-Québec’s project. I was not aware of what would be presented in the newspapers five years later,” Tremblay defended.

On May 20, at the Gallant Commission, former SAAQ board member Anne-Marie Croteau said that Karl Malenfant’s career at Hydro-Québec was seen as an asset.

She said that she had participated in the last interview to confirm Malenfant’s hiring.

“That it was difficult at Hydro-Québec, we thought that maybe it’s a way to learn from past experiences. It was a bit of a guarantee for us that he was going to pay attention to the old mistakes,” she said.

Easing the rules

In 2013, the SAAQ entrusted Malenfant with the overhaul of its computer systems. Under his advice, she convinced the government to relax the rules governing her.

Thus, summarized prosecutor Simon Tremblay, instead of notifying the senior director of information of delays or cost overruns, it was now necessary to warn Malenfant.

“Malenfant is not alone in his world,” Tremblay said Monday. He has a boss, me, a management committee, (…) a board of directors (…) There were mechanisms.”

Tremblay agreed, however, that allowing SAP — a potential bidder — to participate in the choice of software for SAAQclic in 2014 had been “risky.”

“I asked the questions,” she said. The answer I was given is (…) SAP is already a supplier to us. We have the right to talk to him, because we are already in a business relationship with him.”

Malenfant never mentioned to him that he had already worked with SAP at Hydro-Québec, according to his testimony. “Not at all.”

Laxity?

On Monday, Tremblay had to defend herself from having shown “laxity.” In 2015, she informed the Treasury Board that the SAAQ’s IT project would cost $200 million over 10 years.

“If it’s not (a lack of) transparency, is it laxity?” asked Commissioner Denis Gallant. “No,” the former senior civil servant replied.

“He was an estimate,” she explained. When you go to the Treasury, there are forms, little boxes to fill in, and when you got to that box, you had to fill it in.”

“We know the story. (…) You’re going to realize that you were in left field with the estimate,” the commissioner replied.

The contract that the SAAQ will sign in 2017 with LGS-SAP (“the Alliance”) will finally be worth $458 million over 10 years. The total cost of the project was then estimated at $640 million.

Tremblay’s testimony will continue on Tuesday in Quebec City. On Wednesday, it will be the turn of the architect of the SAAQ’s digital shift, Malenfant, to give his version of the facts.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews