{"id":480135,"date":"2026-02-17T07:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/480135\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T07:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:33:25","slug":"montrealers-dismayed-with-saaqclic-fiasco-after-release-of-gallant-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/480135\/","title":{"rendered":"Montrealers dismayed with SAAQclic fiasco after release of Gallant report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disappointment was in the Montreal air in the hours after the Gallant Commission report into the SAAQclic fiasco<\/a> was made public.<\/p>\n

The report found the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de l\u2019assurance automobile du Qu\u00e9bec (SAAQ) \u201clied\u201d to government authorities by providing them with \u201cmisleading\u201d information in order to \u201cconceal\u201d the increased costs of its digital transformation \u2013 from $660 million to $1.1 billion.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the main conclusions of the 586-page report<\/a> presented Monday by Judge Denis Gallant, who chaired the public inquiry into the SAAQclic fiasco.<\/p>\n

\"\"Commissioner Denis Gallant unveils his report on SAAQclic, in Quebec City on Monday, February 16, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jacques Boissinot<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of money,\u201d Richard told CityNews. \u201cCould have much been better used, you know, working within society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappointment,\u201d added Gilles. \u201cDisappointment in communication, disappointment in timing, obviously disappointment in cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just disgusted, that\u2019s all,\u201d said Westmount\u2019s Don McGrath. \u201cDisgusted with the way this province is run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Westmount\u2019s Don McGrath is calling for more transparency after the SAAQclic fiasco. Pictured here Feb. 16, 2026. (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Montrealers also shared with CityNews a desire for more transparency from government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole thing feeds into the larger question of where our taxes go in general, and also questions of government transparency of which I think has been very, very little,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Quebec government looking into \u2018legal options\u2019 against \u2018SAAQ executives who lied\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fiasco for sure, and it impacted a lot of people, including myself, that had a lot of difficulty getting their licence organized,\u201d said Gilles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to go on SAAQclic on several occasions during the transition period, and there were huge delays, and it was a very trying time to work working on the government websites,\u201d Richard said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gilles tells CityNews he was directly impacted by the SAAQclic fiasco. Pictured here Feb. 16, 2026. (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n

While the Gallant report pointed the finger at the SAAQ for allegedly lying to government authorities about the increased costs of the digital transformation, political analyst Karim Boulos suggests the government could have done more to ensure the cost of the SAAQ\u2019s modernization had better oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, whether it was the Liberals or the CAQ, one started it, one finished it, although it\u2019s not finished,\u201d Boulos said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t absolve anybody of responsibility of oversight. This is an oversight question, and taking information at face value is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boulos also suggests the Gallant report\u2019s recommendation to create a new division to oversee public projects could just be another layer of bureaucracy<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t think adding more administration is the way,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it comes down to training the elected officials and making them understand that it\u2019s nice to have your face on a poster, nice to get elected, nice to get a pension at the end of it, but you\u2019ve got a job to do while you\u2019re there. And your only job is to ensure that the people in place are responsible for the work that they\u2019ve been assigned. That\u2019s your only responsibility. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: SAAQclic fiasco: Karl Malenfant rejects blame, alleges character assassination ahead of Gallant report<\/a><\/p>\n

Montrealers are hoping to see more accountability from government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just can\u2019t go to over a billion without management knowing, management or elected officials,\u201d said Gilles.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I think that those in charge should have accountability, and that means their own remunerations,\u201d said Westmount\u2019s Caroline Jondahl. \u201cThis can\u2019t go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems absolutely incredible that this would have happened without the knowledge of that being happening in the ministries,\u201d added Andr\u00e9 Garneau.<\/p>\n

\"\"Montreal\u2019s Andr\u00e9 Garneau tells CityNews his feelings about the SAAQclic fiasco, Feb. 16, 2026. (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disappointment was in the Montreal air in the hours after the Gallant Commission report into the SAAQclic fiasco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":{"0":"post-480135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-montreal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}