09-07-2025
Quebec to fire head of SAAQ amid public inquiry into online platform debacle
The Legault government is firing the CEO of Quebec's automobile insurance board, Éric Ducharme, Radio-Canada has learned.
Annie Lafond, the current vice-president of the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), is expected to be named interim CEO.
The Journal de Montréal first reported the story.
Ducharme was appointed on April 5, 2023, more than a month after the chaotic launch of the SAAQclic digital platform, which led to a $500-million cost overrun, according to a scathing report by the auditor general.
The platform was intended to centralize most of the services from the SAAQ. But when it launched in February 2023, users across the province struggled to access and navigate it, and for weeks, frustrated drivers lined up in the cold outside SAAQ offices as technical issues dragged on.
In June, Quebec's anti-corruption unit, known as UPAC, said it had been investigating the rollout of SAAQclic for months.
A public inquiry into the matter — presided over by Denis Gallant and known as the Gallant commission — started on April 24 of this year.
