Quebec dismantles Cybersecurity and Digital Technology Ministry

The Parti Québécois has transferred the responsibilities of cyber security and digital technology to the Treasury Board. But the Treasury Board's main job is budgetary control of public finances. So let's look at the problems that may unfold. MNAs unanimously adopted a law to create the Cybersecurity and Digital Technology Ministry just a few years ago, and now the Ministry won't exist anymore under the PQ government. Treasury Board President Alain Therrien published a message to justify his decision after Radio-Canada first broke the story. Therrien says that jobs will be preserved, And the expertise from the former cybersecurity ministry will not be lost. When the official structure and the new approach are established, a bill will be tabled to the National Assembly. The opposition parties will of course be consulted. They are a minority government. A minority government by design has to work with the opposition parties. The opposition parties are furious and have lots of questions. What is he improving? Why is he making this change? Who's going to be responsible for cybersecurity and digital transformation now? What happens when a project derails? Former CAQ cybersecurity minister Gilles Bélanger is also worried. He sent a statement specifying that the Quebec government's major digital failures occurred precisely when the portfolios were under the management of the Treasury Board. That includes Saclic. We're going to be seen as a government that's stepping back from what it had, the vision it had in 2022. For this expert, the PQ's decision to get rid of the Cybersecurity and Digital Technology Ministry goes against what's happening in the digital world. It goes to the fact that it will become another statement that cybersecurity, in its inception and its importance, will just be sidetracked and forgotten. The federal government has put in place an agency, Digital Transformation Canada, to modernize public service delivery. The PQ government is choosing another path to optimize its resources, but the Treasury Board president will have to convince Quebecers that the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology Junior Minister is sufficient.