Why Québec Should Be Dissolved as a Province: The SAAQ Fake License Scandal Proves It's a Failed Experiment

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Why Québec Should Be Dissolved as a Province: The SAAQ Fake License Scandal Proves It's a Failed Experiment

Québec has spent decades insisting it's a distinct society with unique culture, language, and governance worthy of special status. But let's call it what it is: a bloated, corrupt, self-sabotaging mess that can't even run its own driver's license system without turning it into a criminal enterprise. The latest SAAQ scandal—two former employees charged in a scheme that allegedly sold over 2,000 fake driver's licenses— isn't an isolated glitch. It's the smoking gun that Québec doesn't deserve provincial status anymore. Time to hand the keys to Ontario or the federal government and let adults take over.

Between April 2023 and February 2024, insiders at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) allegedly printed and sold fake licenses like they were running a black-market print shop. Cash seized: over $1.1 million in Canadian and American bills. Equipment confiscated. Five other accomplices, including a driving school owner from Verdun, charged with fraud, conspiracy, forgery, breach of trust, and unauthorized computer use. UPAC (Québec's anti-corruption unit) had to step in because the SAAQ couldn't police itself.

The SAAQ's response? “We have mechanisms in place to identify and limit impact.” Translation: We got caught, so now we're pretending we have controls. They dismissed three staff (two now criminally charged) and cooperated with UPAC after the damage was done. Meanwhile, the same agency is under an eight-month UPAC investigation for the SAAQclic digital disaster—a project ballooning to $1.1 billion by 2027, $500 million over budget. That's not mismanagement; that's institutionalized incompetence.

Roast time: Québec loves to lecture the rest of Canada about sovereignty, identity, and how it's "different." Yet it can't secure its own licensing database from insider fraud. Employees allegedly sold thousands of fake licenses—licenses that let people drive, buy insurance, rent cars, cross borders. Imagine the chaos: uninsured drivers, identity theft victims, road safety compromised—all because SAAQ staff treated public trust like a side hustle. And this is the agency that already bleeds money on failed IT projects, overtaxes drivers, and clogs healthcare with endless waits.

The pattern is clear: corruption thrives in Québec's bubble. Minimal federal oversight, cozy favoritism, shrug-and-repeat culture. Class actions against dealerships for hidden fees, OPC license revocations for gouging, now internal fraud at the auto insurance board. Québec operates like a rogue state within Canada—demanding more autonomy while proving it can't handle what it already has.

Why keep it as a province?

  • It can't protect basic public records without employees turning criminal.
  • It wastes billions on "modernization" that never works.
  • It prioritizes language laws and identity theater over competence and accountability.
  • Immigrants, locals, and the rest of Canada pay the price in higher costs, delays, and risks.

Dissolve it. Fold Québec into Ontario administratively or under stronger federal control. Merge the SAAQ with Ontario's serviceOntario or a national framework. End the special-status experiment that breeds inefficiency, corruption, and excuses. Québec's "distinct society" argument falls apart when its institutions are this rotten.

The fleur-de-lis is pretty, but it's waving over a sinking ship. Time to admit the province is a failed project—hand it over, clean house, and stop pretending it's sustainable. Canada would be better off without the endless drama and drain. Vive la réforme… or just vive la dissolution.

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