SAAQclic fiasco: ‘I had my foot on the gas,’ defends former CEO Nathalie Tremblay
Posted September 16, 2025 2:27 pm.
The former CEO of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), Nathalie Tremblay, denies having mismanaged the large-scale IT project that was underway during her tenure.
In 2020, the SAAQ chose to settle a $205 million dispute with its supplier LGS-SAP (“the Alliance”) behind closed doors rather than publish an addendum.
The Crown corporation had just been informed that it would need at least 800,000 hours of work to deliver phase two of its IT project.
After strictly confidential talks, the SAAQ agreed to reinject $135 million into the project, with the Alliance absorbing $70 million.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the SAAQ by Karl Malenfant, Vice President of Information Technology.
Without directly blaming Malenfant, Tremblay said Tuesday that his team should have presented her with “more options, more scenarios.”
Frustrated with the Alliance, the former CEO of the SAAQ reportedly vowed that it would not receive “another penny” until it had proven that it could deliver a quality product.
“I had my foot on the gas,” she told Commissioner Denis Gallant.
She had to admit that the project costs had skyrocketed and that the information had not been clearly communicated to the elected officials sitting on the Public Administration Committee.
The SAAQ’s failed digital transition is expected to cost taxpayers at least $1.1 billion by 2027, which is $500 million more than anticipated, according to Quebec’s Auditor General.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
