Letter: The promise to road accident victims has been betrayed

The following article is a letter from the President of the Association des Accidentés de la Route en Litige avec la SAAQ, a group of road accident victims in dispute with Quebec's public automobile insurer, the SAAQ. It was sent to The North Star, as well as to Premier François Legault, Deputy Premier Geneviève Guilbault, former Transport Ministers André Fortin and François Bonnardel, and MPs Enrico Ciccone and Étienne Grandmont.

Mr. Bonnardel,

As you mentioned in your email of May 19, 2019, road accident victims have been the subject of major government errors. You mentioned that the Liberal government in 1989 had made a major mistake when amending Quebec's Automobile Insurance Act (LAA), by gradually reducing Income Replacement Benefits (IRB) and cutting off accident victims at age 68.

When you were Minister of Transport, you said you were sensitive to all the injustices perpetrated by previous governments regarding the fate of road accident victims. You promised to table a bill to remedy the situation and correct the injustices.

Last September, members of the group Accidentés de la Route en Litige avec la SAAQ occupied the offices of the SAAQ head office for two weeks. Despite years of efforts by the group to be heard, only Étienne Grandmont, MP for a small opposition party, agreed to listen to their demands. Your government continues to turn a deaf ear.

During the demonstration, Mr Martin Simard, Vice-president, Road accident, met us in front of the SAAQ head office. What a surprise it was to learn that Mr. Martin Simard was the author of Bill 22, and that you had no involvement whatsoever in this bill! In fact, his work, which he describes as “his baby”, began in 2015.

Mr. Bonnardel, you tabled a bill entirely drafted by those who have been inflicting injustice on accident victims for several years, which you described as unacceptable injustices. This is the same organization that became a for-profit organization thanks to the intervention of Nathalie Tremblay. The SAAQ subsidizes the Tribunal administratif du Québec (TAQ), rehabilitation centers, etc., which raises questions about the impartiality of these organizations.

When 85% of the cases heard by the TAQ are dismissed, compared to 35% for the CNESST, for essentially the same after-effects, it's questionable, not to say dubious, what do you think?

To rectify the situation, the SAAQ called on Nathalie Tremblay, Vice-President, Road Accidents. She opted for a twofold approach. The first was prevention campaigns, which were a success. The second was to evaluate files on the basis of insured risk, with the aim of completely overhauling claims management. A vision imported directly from the for-profit sector. “That's when SAAQ became a for-profit organization."

When the SAAQ decided to become a for-profit organization, its main objective changed. In fact, its aim is no longer to provide accident victims with services and facilitate their claims, without having to fight with lawyers, as was the case before the SAAQ was created.

In fact, that's why the SAAQ was created in the first place. Isn't the main aim of the operation to provide a service to the public? Its mission has changed, because SAAQ's primary objective is to maximize the organization's profits at the expense of the rights of road accident victims.

In short, Mr. Bonnardel, you've given us your word. We sincerely ask you, what is the value of your word? Pardon the expression, but we're still waiting for them “to walk the talk”! Because your last action set back the rights of road accident victims by more than 30 years.

Your political party has done more damage to road accident victims than any of your predecessors. We expect you to arrange a meeting with your colleague, Ms Geneviève Guilbault. That way, we'll know that you're a man of your word.

Sincerely yours, Mr. Bonnardel.

Christiane Vallière, President of the Association des Accidentés de la Route en Litige avec la SAAQ