SAAQclic Scandal: Opposition demands dismantling of Gallant Commission

Quebec Liberal Party Official Opposition House Leader Monsef Derraji reacts to SAAQ scandal during question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Karoline Boucher / The Canadian Press) (Karoline Boucher/The Canadian Press)

Quebec opposition parties are demanding the dismantling of the Gallant Commission, which is set to investigate the SAAQclic scandal, even before it has begun its work.

The commission is increasingly resembling a “cozy family gathering,” said Liberal Party House Leader Monsef Derraji during a news conference on Wednesday.

He criticized the connections not only between Judge Denis Gallant and Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel, but also between the commission’s Director of Investigations, Robert Pigeon, and LeBel’s partner.

The commission’s Secretary General, Véronyck Fontaine, also reportedly worked closely with former CEO of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), Denis Marsolais, according to Le Journal de Québec.

All these close ties are “unacceptable,” Derraji said, once again calling for Gallant to step down, and insisting that the entire process should “absolutely” start over.

Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Guillaume Cliche-Rivard said that “hundreds of millions in public funds” were “squandered” in the failed deployment of the SAAQclic platform.

“And now we’re moving forward with a commission where, every day, we discover that influential members of this future commission have direct ties either to the government, ministers, or people close to them,” he said. “I think we need to go back to square one on this matter. We need to appoint people who are above all suspicion.”

Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon echoed the same concerns, saying that “we must rebuild the foundation of this commission from scratch so that trust can be restored.”

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