SAAQ: Guilbault admits planning and communication errors

Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault admits that the Quebec auto insurance board (SAAQ) did not plan its digital transition properly and did not communicate the implications of this transition to users.

However, she refuses, at least for the time being, to blame SAAQ management but promises that a retrospective analysis will shed light on the failures of this transition and the responsibility of its architects.

While visiting a Montreal branch of the SAAQ on Friday morning, Guilbault announced a new measure: the extension until June 1 of the validity of driver's licences that expired between Jan. 26 and March 9. This measure is in addition to a series of other accommodations aimed at not penalizing the corporation's clients.

• READ MORE: Here are the new SAAQ measures

Guilbault came to meet with the branch's employees to thank them for the additional effort required for this transition and the difficulties in implementing it, but also to take the pulse of the already announced measures. She said that these measures, particularly the three-month grace period granted to holders of expired permits and the extension until the end of August to convert international permits, had considerably reduced the pressure.

She said the SAAQ has prioritized the files of truckers and taxi drivers so that they, whose work requires a valid licence, are not penalized by undue delays.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 10, 2023