SAAQclic fiasco: Karl Malenfant caught lying to the Gallant Commission

The architect of the digital shift at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), Karl Malenfant, was caught lying to the Gallant Commission on Friday.

On the third day of his testimony, he stated under oath that he had never had access to the IT firms’ bids because he was prohibited from doing so.

However, evidence presented to the commission shows that Malenfant had obtained Deloitte’s bid in 2016 and sent it to his personal email address.

This document was supposed to remain “in a locked bunker,” emphasized prosecutor Alexandre Thériault-Marois. Faced with these revelations, Malenfant said he was ‘dazed’ and “unsettled.”

“Honestly, I am myself, I don’t remember that,” he said, visibly shaken.

Before calling a recess, Commissioner Denis Gallant saw fit to refer to section 11 of the Act respecting commissions of inquiry, which deals with the issue of perjury.

“I expect a witness, under oath, to tell the truth,” Gallant warned when the hearing resumed.

Prosecutor Thériault-Marois followed up by presenting another piece of evidence: an exchange of text messages between Malenfant and consultant Louise “Loulou” Savoie.

“It’s a hell of a lot of stuff. I read the 2,070 pages from Deloitte on Friday evening and yesterday until 10:30 p.m.,” Malenfant wrote to his friend. “Very complex to analyze,” she replied.

Malenfant finally admitted that he had indeed seen the bids. The LGS-SAP alliance won the $458 million contract for the SAAQ’s digital transformation.

The “billionaire” SAAQ

According to prosecutor Thériault-Marois’s premise, Malenfant attached little importance to the cost of the digital shift.

During an exchange in April 2025 with Caroline Lortie of the Autorité des marchés publics, Malenfant stated that it was not “a question of price,” since the SAAQ is a “billionaire.”

“We have $15 billion in the Caisse de dépôt. We give $2 billion a year to citizens,” he argued, among other things, during this conversation, which was transcribed for the commission.

On Friday, Thériault-Marois reminded him that the SAAQ is in fact operating at a deficit and that the billions in trust belong to road accident victims.

“My priority is the technological sustainability of the SAAQ,” which is not just “the local hardware store,” insisted Malenfant.

The Gallant Commission is tasked with shedding light on the SAAQ’s failed digital shift. The Auditor General estimates that it will cost at least $1.1 billion by 2027, which is $500 million more than expected.

“Capable” of internal auditing

Furthermore, an email sent to consultant Madeleine “Mado” Chagnon in February 2016 reveals that Malenfant quickly took issue with the SAAQ’s internal auditing.

“They’re wasting our time for nothing. Don’t worry about it. We’re all pu capables, and when I say all, I mean ALL,” he wrote to his friend, who was upset about being excluded from the selection committee.

Then, in March 2017, he emailed her the “summary of the selection committee for IBM,” emphasizing that they were not “supposed to know.”

“I would ask you not to share this with the team. The rules are that we are not supposed to know the committee’s results. Once you have completed your analysis, you can destroy it.”

The former VP of the SAAQ had his “official and unofficial” channels, noted prosecutor Thériault-Marois.

In March 2015, Savoie sent him a message to his personal email address—another one—to provide him with a “sales pitch” to respond to the media and “potential protesters.”

At that time, the issue at stake was the choice of an integrated software package (ERP).

What are the media issues? Who are the protesters? Commissioner Gallant wanted to know. Malenfant was unable to answer these questions precisely.

In 2014, Savoie communicated with Malenfant via his personal email and helped him conduct informal discussions with SAP, the commission learned on Thursday.

Malenfant defended himself by stating that he could not bring SAAQ computer equipment to his cottage on weekends. His testimony will continue on Monday in Montreal.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews