There are two ways things seem to go when it comes to the digital transformation of public services in Quebec.

They can proceed at a glacial pace, like the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain’s long-promised plan to give transit users more options for purchasing fares using their smartphones or bank cards.

Or they can go completely off the rails, like the Société de l’assurance automobile’s botched boondoggle SAAQclic, which is now the subject of a public inquiry where some alarming and gobsmacking testimony has been delivered recent weeks.

Yet these are just two examples (one extreme) of the massive, behind-the-scenes undertaking of upgrading the technological infrastructure of Quebec government bodies and public agencies. During the study of budget credits, Quebec’s new Minister of Digital Transformation Gilles Bélanger (the previous minister, Éric Caire, had to resign over the SAAQclic fiasco), said that a staggering $9 billion worth of potential projects have been identified to modernize services and operations. Contracts amounting to $2.5 billion are currently under way.

That includes the gargantuan effort to digitize health records, at a total estimated cost of $3 billion.

Bélanger admitted under questioning from the opposition that he already has “worries” about the health records, among the more sensitive and complex endeavours. That doesn’t bode well for a government reeling from the fallout of the SAAQclic scandal.

The massive cost overruns and the

© Montreal Gazette