Legault was unaware of cost overruns at Quebec auto insurer until public scandal, he says

Quebec Premier François Legault told a public inquiry on Tuesday that he knew nothing about the $500-million cost overrun tied to digitization efforts at the province’s auto-insurance board until it became public knowledge in February.

Mr. Legault’s appearance before the Gallant commission into mismanagement and alleged cover-ups at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec was the culmination of months of speculation about how much the Premier knew, and when, about a scandal that has already claimed one of his cabinet ministers.

The province’s embattled leader, facing plummeting poll numbers as he approaches seven years in office, said that details of mounting problems and ballooning costs within the SAAQclic project should have reached his desk, but didn’t.