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SAAQclic: ex-IT boss ‘bulls-itted' senior management
SAAQclic: ex-IT boss ‘bulls-itted' senior management

CTV News

time27-05-2025

  • Business
  • CTV News

SAAQclic: ex-IT boss ‘bulls-itted' senior management

Judge Denis Gallant of the Commission d'enquête sur la gestion de la modernisation des systèmes informatiques de la Société de l'assurance automobile (SAAQ) awaits the start of the public inquiry into the failure of the SAAQclic platform in Montreal on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press) Senior management at the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) was 'bullshitted' by its IT boss as he defended an extra $222 million for the deployment of the SAAQclic platform, according to a former internal auditor. The former director of the SAAQ's internal audit department, Daniel Pelletier, continued his testimony on Tuesday before the Gallant commission, which is investigating the failures of the provincial Crown corporation. Pelletier revealed that the office of then Transport Minister François Bonnardel was informed in June 2022 of future cost overruns of $222 million. Newly appointed CEO of the SAAQ, Denis Marsolais, called a meeting with a representative of the minister's office to announce the extra cost, which represented 50 per cent of the cost of the initial contract with suppliers. The SAAQ's vice-president of information technology at the time, Karl Malenfant, was also present. According to Pelletier, the meeting did not go well. 'Things got out of hand in the minister's office,' he said. Pelletier said that he had warned Marsolais that presenting such an extra would not go down well in the minister's office and that 'it was going to be hot,' since the latter believes that the contract with the consortium is capped at $458 million, as reported to him by SAAQ senior management, Pelletier asserts. Pelletier questioned the justifications put forward by Malenfant, who is in charge of the SAAQclic project, to defend the additional expenses to the contract. In his view, the suggested additions did not actually exist. Pelletier recounted what he had said to Marsolais following his meeting with the minister's office: 'Denis, you're being bullshitted' by Karl Malenfant. 'I said it to him like that. A sort of cry from the heart," Pelletier told Commissioner Denis Gallant. Marsolais lost his job in April 2023 in the wake of the failed rollout of SAAQclic, which had caused huge lineups outside branches. The SAAQ's technological modernization project could cost a minimum of more than $1.1 billion by 2027, or $500 million more than expected, according to the Auditor General. A modified final bid The final offer from the firms responsible for developing the SAAQclic platform was already raising concerns a few weeks before it was signed. The selection committee for the call for tenders suggested revising or clarifying certain points in the contract before it was signed with the LGS-IBM-SAP alliance in March 2017. Among the concerns was the number of hours for technology integration, which had been reduced by 730,000 compared with the initial bid. Three years later, the consortium calculated that the project would ultimately require 2 million hours rather than 877,000. 'Somewhere in 2020, we were in the process of discussing the possibility of handing over nearly a million more,' recalled Pelletier. In 2017, Pelletier's team had not been informed of the changes made. However, while monitoring the tendering process, the former director remembers that some members of the selection committee were 'surprised' when they discovered the content of the second bid. The consultants' 'very high' hourly rate 'for the additional work reserve' was also a point to be checked against the initial proposal. It rose from $89 to $256. 'For the same work, the competitor proposed an hourly rate of $151,' the selection committee said. The committee also pointed out that the implementation of services for the delivery of permits and registrations on the platform would be done 'without simulation.' 'This implied that there would be no prior simulations or tests. We now understand that it would certainly have been useful,' Pelletier told Commissioner Gallant. Pelletier is due to be cross-examined on Wednesday morning. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 27, 2025. By Frédéric Lacroix-Couture, The Canadian Press

Metro Vancouver scales back director pay, strikes committee to restructure
Metro Vancouver scales back director pay, strikes committee to restructure

CBC

time26-05-2025

  • Business
  • CBC

Metro Vancouver scales back director pay, strikes committee to restructure

Recent cost overruns to the tune of billions of dollars have raised serious questions about how Metro Vancouver is run. In response, the regional district ordered an independent governance review. That report described Metro Vancouver's board as too large and difficult to manage. It also pointed to growing political tensions, a culture of mistrust, and a lack of proper oversight. Now members voted to cut some perks and improve accountability. For what that will look like, The Early Edition's Stephen Quinn was joined by Board Chair Mike Hurley.

Trump offers to help Obama with presidential library's 'disaster'
Trump offers to help Obama with presidential library's 'disaster'

Fox News

time07-05-2025

  • Business
  • Fox News

Trump offers to help Obama with presidential library's 'disaster'

President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered to help out with the development of the Obama Presidential Center, which has been plagued by huge cost overruns and delays, with the project's embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies drawing significant attention recently. Trump, who reshaped city skylines with towering skyscrapers throughout his business career, linked DEI to the problems at the massive Chicago project, which has seen costs spiral from an initial $350 million to $830 million in 2021, with no new updated figures available. "Look, President Obama, if he wanted help, I'd give him help because I'm a really good builder and I build on time, on budget. He's building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster," Trump said at the White House alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. OBAMA LIBRARY, BEGUN WITH LOFTY DEI GOALS, NOW PLAGUED BY $40M RACIALLY CHARGED SUIT, BALLOONING COSTS Trump was speaking about the Biden administration's CHIPS Act -- passed to boost domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing - and its DEI provisions when he pivoted to the Obama Presidential Center. "[Obama] said something to the effect, 'I only want DEI, I only want woke,'" Trump said. "He wants woke people to build it. Well, he got woke people and they have massive cost overruns. A job is stopped. I don't know, it's a disaster. And I don't like that happening because it's bad for the presidency that a thing like that should happen. He's got a library that's a disaster." Construction is still under way at the 19.3-acre site which will consist of a 225-foot-tall museum, a digital library, conference facilities, a gymnasium and a regulation-sized NBA court. From the outset, the project touted "ambitious goals" for certain construction diversity quotas, with its contracts allocated to "diverse suppliers," 35% of which were required to be minority-based enterprises (MBEs). WATCH: The Brian Kilmeade Show: Obama Presidential Center rocked by $40M racial bias lawsuit A $40.75 million racially charged lawsuit filed earlier this year by a minority contractor against the project's structural engineer shined a spotlight on the DEI-driven aspect of the project. The structural engineers claimed the minority contractor lacked sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, resulting in delays. Trump on Tuesday said Obama was paying for prioritizing DEI over meritocracy. "And he wanted to be very politically correct and he didn't use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love Marco," Trump said, switching into his trademark deeper tone while addressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. MUSK'S DOGE TERMINATES LEASE AT OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY SITE "I love those construction workers but he didn't want construction workers. He wanted people that never did it before and he's got a disaster in his hands. Many millions of dollars over budget and I would love to help him with it or somebody else I could recommend professionals, but it was not built in a professional manner." Emily Bittner, the vice president of communications at the nonprofit Obama Foundation, said Trump's remarks were not based in facts and that the center itself is not involved in the lawsuit, nor did it delay the timeline of the facility which is set to open in 2026. The Obama Foundation oversees the center's development and will also be housed at the center when it opens. "Everyone who sees the Obama Presidential Center is blown away by its beauty, scale and the way it will be an economic engine for Chicago and a beacon of hope for the world," Bittner told Fox News Digital in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming all visitors to the 19.3-acre campus next spring, to experience a presidential center that not only honors the Obamas' legacy but also lifts up the next generation of leaders." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Bittner said the hundreds of workers on site every day are a testament to the center's progress and added that the project is being funded privately and not by the taxpayer. The library at the center will be a digital one and not a physical one like other presidential libraries have, which are federally funded and have size restrictions. Obama's current presidential library is in Hoffman Estates in the northwest of Chicago and is expected to move to College Park in Maryland later this year.

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