Former CAQ minister and Member of the National Assembly for La Peltrie, Éric Caire, announced that he will not seek another term after 19 years in politics. “It’s hard to break into politics. It’s just as hard to stay in it. The hardest part, however, is leaving it. By the end of this term, I will have accumulated 27 years of active involvement in the third way, including nearly twenty years as an elected official. It’s time for me to step aside,” he wrote on his Facebook page Thursday morning. Caire was first elected under the banner of Mario Dumont’s Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) in 2007. He attempted to become its leader in 2009 but lost to Gilles Taillon. He joined the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2011 and remained a member when Premier François Legault was elected in 2018. He then became Minister for Government Digital Transformation, and later Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs in 2022—a position he was forced to leave in the wake of the SAAQclic scandal. “I remain, however, a proud CAQ member, more convinced than ever that Quebec needs this third way that thousands of us have dedicated ourselves to building over the past three decades,” Caire concluded in his message. Hostile attitude toward politicians He said he was most proud of the creation of the Ministry of Cybersecurity. “The Gallant report makes it clear that we need an organization like that to manage IT projects, despite what happened with SAAQclic,” he said during a press scrum at the National Assembly. He stated that the hostile attitude toward politicians contributed to his decision to leave. “I’m used to seeing Hitler mustaches on my signs or Nazi symbols. But a bullet hole in the middle of my forehead with blood dripping down—I’d never experienced that before,” he explained. He did not rule out continuing his professional career in the media. Caire’s 19 years in politics were not a smooth ride. His career was marked by several controversies. During the ADQ leadership race, media reports claimed that Caire had embellished his resume, leading people to believe he had a university degree in communications when he had only completed a single semester. Caire attributed this to a typographical error. In 2017, Caire accepted a $55,000 loan from the former mayor of L’Ancienne-Lorette, Émile Loranger. The National Assembly’s Ethics Commissioner described this as a “potential conflict of interest.” Caire must repay the loan. The story came to light during the 2018 elections. During the 2018 election campaign, Caire put his seat on the line with the promise of the third highway link. However, he remained in office when his government announced it was scrapping the project. In February 2023, the rollout of the SAAQclic platform turned into a fiasco. Caire, then Minister of Cybersecurity, claimed he “should have received praise.” The Gallant report, published in February, concluded that the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) “knowingly lied” to the government by providing “misleading,” “fallacious,” and “hypocritically reassuring” information in order to “conceal” the rising costs of its digital transformation. However, the “lies” stopped in 2023 with the arrival of new CEO Éric Ducharme, and the government was finally told the truth, the commissioner noted. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 26, 2026. Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press
