SAAQclic ‘bumpy’ as early as 2018, witness tells Gallant commission

The Gallant Commission, tasked with investigating the failures of the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) IT transition, on May 15, 2025, in Quebec City. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

The digital transition at Quebec’s automobile insurance board (SAAQ) was already “bumpy” in 2018, the commission investigating the SAAQclic fiasco heard Monday.

Sylvain Cloutier, director of the project office, testified before the Gallant commission, which travelled to Quebec City to begin its sixth week of hearings.

He spoke about the coloured indicators used by his team to track progress — markers that, without clear explanation, often shifted from red to green.

“When things become increasingly chaotic, doesn’t accountability matter?” asked Justice Denis Gallant, pressing Cloutier on his apparent lack of control over how the colours were assigned.

Cloutier said the indicators “on their own weren’t enough” to give a full picture of the project’s status.

The board’s vice-president of information technology, Karl Malenfant, would regularly step in to offer “explanations.”

Malenfant’s name has surfaced repeatedly over the past six weeks at the Gallant commission.

“There were problems, but Mr. Malenfant didn’t try to hide them,” said Cloutier.

“He’s an experienced man. He’s led major projects at Hydro-Québec, at Rio Tinto. He knows what he’s talking about. He came in to explain things and reassure the team — not reassure as in spinning stories,” Cloutier added.

“Was everyone aware?” commission lawyer Vincent Ranger asked. “Was Mr. Malenfant transparent about how difficult the rollout was?”

“Yes,” Cloutier replied.

“Would it be fair to say Mr. Malenfant is naturally optimistic?” Ranger followed up.

“Yes, that’s true,” Cloutier said. “But not in a head-in-the-clouds way. He likes a challenge.”

“I didn’t take bribes”

Cloutier also admitted Monday to manipulating a public tender worth over $1 million so it would be awarded to external consultant Stéphane Mercier.

“That was my mistake,” Cloutier acknowledged under questioning from Justice Gallant.

“I’m not saying what I did was right. But I take responsibility — it was me.”

In 2017, Cloutier urgently requested the bidding threshold be lowered to $990,000 after Mercier informed him he couldn’t qualify for the contract because he didn’t have authorization from Quebec’s financial markets authority.

That authorization is required for contracts valued at more than $1 million.

“I was in a panic,” Cloutier said, recalling thinking, “If I don’t have this guy to keep going, we’re in deep trouble (…) I’m losing expertise.”

“I did it with the intention of not delaying the project,” he said. “I didn’t take any bribes. I’m not going on fishing trips. I’m not sailing around on a yacht. That’s not what this is.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 9, 2025.