Latest news with #KarlMalenfant
CTV News
7 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
SAAQclic ‘bumpy' as early as 2018, witness tells Gallant commission
The Gallant Commission, tasked with investigating the failures of the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) IT transition, on May 15, 2025, in Quebec City. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot) The digital transition at Quebec's automobile insurance board (SAAQ) was already 'bumpy' in 2018, the commission investigating the SAAQclic fiasco heard Monday. Sylvain Cloutier, director of the project office, testified before the Gallant commission, which travelled to Quebec City to begin its sixth week of hearings. He spoke about the coloured indicators used by his team to track progress — markers that, without clear explanation, often shifted from red to green. 'When things become increasingly chaotic, doesn't accountability matter?' asked Justice Denis Gallant, pressing Cloutier on his apparent lack of control over how the colours were assigned. Cloutier said the indicators 'on their own weren't enough' to give a full picture of the project's status. The board's vice-president of information technology, Karl Malenfant, would regularly step in to offer 'explanations.' Malenfant's name has surfaced repeatedly over the past six weeks at the Gallant commission. 'There were problems, but Mr. Malenfant didn't try to hide them,' said Cloutier. 'He's an experienced man. He's led major projects at Hydro-Québec, at Rio Tinto. He knows what he's talking about. He came in to explain things and reassure the team — not reassure as in spinning stories,' Cloutier added. 'Was everyone aware?' commission lawyer Vincent Ranger asked. 'Was Mr. Malenfant transparent about how difficult the rollout was?' 'Yes,' Cloutier replied. 'Would it be fair to say Mr. Malenfant is naturally optimistic?' Ranger followed up. 'Yes, that's true,' Cloutier said. 'But not in a head-in-the-clouds way. He likes a challenge.' 'I didn't take bribes' Cloutier also admitted Monday to manipulating a public tender worth over $1 million so it would be awarded to external consultant Stéphane Mercier. 'That was my mistake,' Cloutier acknowledged under questioning from Justice Gallant. 'I'm not saying what I did was right. But I take responsibility — it was me.' In 2017, Cloutier urgently requested the bidding threshold be lowered to $990,000 after Mercier informed him he couldn't qualify for the contract because he didn't have authorization from Quebec's financial markets authority. That authorization is required for contracts valued at more than $1 million. 'I was in a panic,' Cloutier said, recalling thinking, 'If I don't have this guy to keep going, we're in deep trouble (…) I'm losing expertise.' 'I did it with the intention of not delaying the project,' he said. 'I didn't take any bribes. I'm not going on fishing trips. I'm not sailing around on a yacht. That's not what this is.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 9, 2025.
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Quebec's anti-corruption unit reveals it's been investigating SAAQclic debacle for months
Quebec's anti-corruption unit, known as UPAC, announced on Thursday it has been investigating the chaotic rollout of SAAQclic for more than three months. The unit had been analyzing the available information surrounding Quebec's automobile insurance board's failed digital shift but would not confirm whether it had initiated an investigation. The anti-corruption commissioner, who co-ordinates UPAC's operations, confirmed the news of the investigation in a news release Thursday. Given the "exceptional circumstances" surrounding the issue and after having studied the scathing report by the province's auditor general, the commissioner said the team launched an investigation at the end of February into "possible wrongdoing in the management of the CASA/SAAQclic IT project." Mathieu Galarneau, spokesperson for the commissioner, indicated in the statement that no further details on the ongoing investigation would be provided. The rollout of the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)'s digital platform is also being investigated by the Gallant commission — a public inquiry presided over by Denis Gallant, which began on April 24. So far, there have been several revelations, including a fourfold increase in the hourly rates of consultants. A former internal auditor at the SAAQ also told the inquiry that several people who won calls for tenders for "strategic resources" had professional ties with Karl Malenfant, the former vice-president of the SAAQ's digital experience and the project director for CASA. François Geoffrion, who sat on the SAAQ's board of directors from 2013 to 2022, told the commission the board knew that the digital transformation project was "risky" and had "all the flaws." At the end of May, Jérôme Verreault, a former financial controller at SAAQclic, explained to Gallant and his team that payment delays were "exploding" and the SAAQ even received "notices of termination of services" from its suppliers. The public inquiry will continue throughout the summer.
