SAAQclic: Board of directors protected the CAQ, according to the PLQ

Quebec’s official opposition raises new issues on political interference in the SAAQclic scandal, the $500 million cost overruns of the digital shift at the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec. 

Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji has examined the minutes of the SAAQ board of directors and concludes that the members protected the CAQ government. 

In a damning report, Quebec Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc found that the board of directors had ruled out awarding an additional $222 million to SAP and LGS, which was instead split into several small contracts, in the middle of an election campaign, due to a high political and media risk.

During the meeting of September 14, 2022, during the election campaign, the board of directors discussed at length the digital shift project, but also the SAAQ’s contractual strategy relating to the project, without it being possible to read their redacted deliberations. 

The following day, Sept. 15, there was a new meeting of the board of directors, which again discussed the contractual strategy, then the chairman of the board, Konrad Sioui, took the trouble to remind the members of their obligations in the context of general elections. 

In an interview with The Canadian Press on Wednesday, Derraji maintained that this series of decisions is proof that the board of directors made the political choice to break up the contract so as not to embarrass the CAQ during the elections.

He recalled that Sioui had been appointed by the CAQ. 

The Quebec Minister of Transport at the time, François Bonnardel, continued to claim that he had been lied to and that the SAAQ had lied to parliamentarians. 

But according to Derraji, it is absurd to think that the board of directors could have taken all these decisions without the minister knowing anything about them. 

He demands that the content of all the minutes be deleted as soon as possible, even though Premier François Legault has announced the holding of a commission of inquiry to shed light on SAAQclic. 

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews