The exasperation of Quebecers with the failures of the digital shift of the SAAQ went up a notch after the broadcast of images showing a man collapsing in a queue of an office of the state company, yesterday downstream.
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The government agency is desperately trying to transfer most of its services to the transactional platform, SAAQclic.
However, long queues, technical problems, paid but invalid permits: the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) is entangled in a series of setbacks.
Another tile fell on the head of the state-owned company yesterday, according to images relayed by TVA Nouvelles.
A man in his fifties, who has been in Quebec for a short time, would have joined the line of customers in the morning to change his driver’s license, according to a witness interviewed by the TV network who preferred to keep his name silent.
After possibly hours of waiting, he collapsed to the ground, requiring the help of a good Samaritan who happened to be nearby.
Is it the long period of forcing him to stand that has led to weakness, as a witness to the scene suggests? The exact cause of the incident remains mysterious, but the image caught the imagination of many Quebecers.
Failure
Even some elected officials did not hesitate to speak out on social networks.
“I am outraged! The SAAQ is your responsibility [François Legault]. The long lines are your fiasco, your failure,” tweeted Marc Tanguay, the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, calling out to the Prime Minister.
Faced with the outcry, the SAAQ wanted to clarify the circumstances of the event.
“Monsieur had not been there for 4 hours [comme l’a avancé la témoin] and he had no appointment, ”wrote spokesperson Gino Desrosiers, without specifying the approximate waiting time to which the individual had to comply.
At noon, the emergency services were called to intervene, despite the contrary wishes of the fifty-year-old. The latter would have refused to meet the first responders, “but he finally accepted and then returned to the queue,” adds Gino Desrosiers.