SAAQclic inquiry: former top civil servant denies being told of cost overrun

Monitors are seen in the hearing room for the Gallant commission, a public inquiry investigating the failure of Quebec's automobile insurance board's online portal, SAAQclic, is seen in Montreal on Thursday, April 24, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

MONTRÉAL — Quebec's former top public servant has denied being informed in September 2022 that the online platform for the auto insurance board was more than $200 million over budget.

Yves Ouellet, former secretary-general of the executive council, testified Wednesday at a public inquiry examining how the online portal known as SAAQclic incurred more than $500 million in cost overruns.

Ouellet's role as secretary-general made him the province's highest-ranking civil servant, reporting directly to Premier François Legault. The premier and other senior ministers have been summoned to the hearings in recent weeks to ask how much they knew about the troubled digital transformation project.

Ouellet's testimony contradicted statements from former auto board CEO Denis Marsolais, who told the inquiry in June that he had informed Ouellet of an extra $222 million in costs on Sept. 7, 2022.

Ouellet, who now runs the province's securities regulator, told the Gallant Commission the number was never raised and that it would have set off alarm bells had he been told.

"The word 'cost overruns' was never uttered," he told commission lawyer Simon Tremblay.

If they had, his reaction would have been, "Stop the meeting, we want to understand what is happening," Ouellet told the lawyer.

To backup his words, he showed the commission a follow-up email that was sent following the meeting with Marsolais, which made no mention of the document containing details of the cost overruns.

The SAAQclic platform was created to modernize the services provided by the auto insurance board, including renewing driver's licences and booking road tests.

Marsolais was replaced as CEO after the platform's disastrous 2023 launch, which resulted in a backlog for services and long lineups outside auto board offices.

Ouellet said he had meetings with other auto board officials in the weeks and months preceding the project's launch, and that those leaders never mentioned hundreds of millions in cost overruns.

Testifying Tuesday, Legault maintained he was unaware of the cost overruns until an auditor general's report in February estimated the project's price tag at more $1.1 billion -- more than $500,000 higher than planned.

He said the two Quebec transport ministers overseeing the file -- François Bonnardel and later Geneviève Guilbault -- should have asked more questions about the project's financials, but ultimately blamed those at the provincial Crown corporation for not being clear about the soaring costs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2025.

Frédéric Lacroix-Couture, The Canadian Press