Current SAAQ CEO Ducharme criticized once again at Gallant commission
Commissioner Denis Gallant, centre back, presides over an inquiry into the causes and circumstances underlying the problems with managing and implementing the CASA program for the Societe d'Assurance automobile du Quebec, in Quebec City on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
In 2024, three auditors from Quebec's auto insurance board - the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) - resigned, disappointed by CEO Éric Ducharme's lack of interest in their work.
'It was like being spat on,' said former auditor Marie-Line Lalonde on Monday during her testimony before the Gallant Commission, which is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the SAAQclic fiasco.
Lalonde explained that her department had to wait nine months before getting a meeting with Ducharme, who was appointed in 2023 by the Legault government to turn around the situation at the SAAQ.
During that meeting, which finally took place in January 2024, the new CEO was 'sitting in his chair with his arms crossed,' Lalonde recalled.
'It was a very cold approach. (...) If he could have gotten up and left, he would have. (...) We told him that we were working for him, that we were there to help him,' she said. 'It was as if he was saying, 'I don't want your work.''
Ducharme no longer wanted the internal audit to 'rock the boat,' but in auditing, 'the goal is not to get along with the sectors,' it is to be factual, according to the chartered professional accountant.
She and her team were 'really disappointed' after the meeting with Ducharme, so much so that they decided it was probably time for them to 'update their CVs.'
Three of them left the SAAQ at the same time in early 2024.
Former auditor Vincent Poirier testified on May 29 that Ducharme did not 'want' a report detailing the IT problems discovered following the failed launch of SAAQclic.
During his end-of-session review on June 6, Premier François Legault refused to reiterate his confidence in Ducharme.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 16, 2025.
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