Éric Caire scored in his own goal on the sidelines of SAAQ’s IT transition. The Minister for Cybersecurity and Digital has made his government look bad and damaged the prospects of the next steps in implementing digital identities in the public sector.
• Also read: Bulletins of the week in the National Assembly
As I watched Éric Caire go down in the Blue Room this week, I remembered the words of an elected CAQ member I spoke to earlier in the year.
He pointed out that while team spirit had generally remained good, those who had not been elected to the Council of Ministers would not be particularly patient with privileged colleagues who had not delivered the goods.
On Thursday, following Minister Cairo’s embellished arrogant responses to the opposition, a member of the government told me with a knowing smile that he had a good idea who I would give a thumbs down to in this SATURDAY chronicle.
Returning indoors Tuesday after the two-week hiatus marked by the failed digital transition at SAAQ, many CAQ members had long faces while the minister blamed only the state-owned company’s executives.
They know that it is the “ordinary” citizens they are proud to represent that have suffered.
Thousands of Mr. and Mrs. Everybody have been affected, wasted valuable time waiting in queues, sometimes for nothing, have encountered a complex, unpredictable system.
A widespread discontent haunting elected officials.
The beginning of digital identity
The transformation of the SAAQ platform is also the first step towards leveraging digital identity, which Cairo must subsequently extend to Revenu Québec, RAMQ and others.
It is as if he had entrusted his baby to the state body without precaution.
“We asked the SAAQ if they were ready. The SAAQ told us: We are ready. So we let her go,” he said on Tuesday, confirming his own nonchalance.
Two sources confirmed to the Journal that the minister had been warned for months that no concrete communication plan was planned with the SAAQ.
The minister denied this information with a play on words.
He reiterates that the company has guaranteed that budget and deadlines will be met.
The way of planning the clear and soft landing for the clientele is different.
SAAQ is of course primarily responsible. And Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault also bears her share of the responsibility.
But Cairo shot itself in the foot.
And this isn’t the first erroneous reply to the journal.
Angry at a report revealing a delay in the rollout of digital identities, he said 30,000 daycare educators were already using the service.
His own deputy minister then had to correct it because it was just a test with… only 40 workers.
It all looked like a lie he allowed himself to save his image.
Or a lack of knowledge of what is going on in his ministry.
What’s next?
Now that he’s accused SAAQ’s managers and IT specialists of denying any responsibility for this messy initial implementation, one wonders who would want to go to war with him as we look ahead to the next phases of the operation.
Unless you’re ready to get stabbed in the back.
But hey, it looks like he “should have gotten a few awards,” as he told TVA.
