SAAQclic: PLQ will submit motion to demand resignation of François Bonnardel
Posted March 19, 2025 9:12 am.
Last Updated March 19, 2025 11:05 am.
The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) will table a motion in the National Assembly calling for the resignation of Minister François Bonnardel, who was reportedly made aware of problems in the development of SAAQclic as early as 2021.
Le Devoir revealed Wednesday morning that Bonnardel, who was Minister of Transport from 2018 to 2022, received information in September 2021 about cost overruns in the design of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec’s (SAAQ) new digital platform.
According to PLQ House Leader Monsef Derraji, Bonnardel has “lost his credibility in this fiasco by not taking action since 2021.”
“He must resign,” he declared on the social network X, announcing at the same time that his party will table a motion in the National Assembly calling for Bonnardel’s departure.
????Notre motion:
— Monsef Derraji, MBA, Ph.D (@monsefderraji) March 19, 2025
M. Bonnardel a perdu sa crédibilité dans ce fiasco en n’agissant pas depuis 2021. Il doit démissionner.
M. @francoislegault, votre crédibilité est en jeu. Vous ne pouvez pas sacrifier seulement M. Caire, qui a été informé un an après Bonnardel.
Agissez !#AssNat pic.twitter.com/zH2NTOEt9u
At a press briefing Wednesday morning, Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal and PQ MP Joël Arseneau agreed: according to them, the situation for Bonnardel has become untenable and Premier François Legault must remove him from his position.
The SAAQ’s digital transition fiasco has been the subject of much discussion since the Auditor General published a report revealing that the project had generated $500 million in cost overruns.
Following the release of this report, Bonnardel, now Minister of Public Security, said he had been “misled” by the SAAQ, which allegedly failed to provide the government with a clear picture of the extent of the problems that arose during the development of SAAQclic.
Current Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault and former Digital Minister Éric Caire raised similar arguments. Caire ultimately left the Cabinet after media reports suggested he had obtained information regarding the problems at SAAQclic.
The Legault government launched a public inquiry into SAAQclic, which will be led by former Charbonneau Commission prosecutor Denis Gallant.
The Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois (PQ) are calling on Gallant to recuse himself, given his closeness to Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel. The two worked closely together as prosecutors on the Charbonneau Commission from 2011 to 2014.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t choose the right person. It’s a bad decision, and the government must reverse it,” PQ MNA Pascal Paradis said Wednesday.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
