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OTTAWA \u2014 The Conservatives are accusing the Liberals of blocking a House of Commons committee from questioning Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne about his personal connection to the Alto high-speed rail project.<\/p>\n
Champagne\u2019s partner, Anne-Marie Gaudet, is a vice-president of environment at Alto, the Crown corporation responsible for the $90-billion rail project that would connect Toronto and Quebec City. She was hired in August 2025.<\/p>\n
Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett tried to launch a study at the ethics committee to question Champagne, the CEO of Alto Martin Imbleau and Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein about the minister\u2019s relationship with Gaudet and the decisions he\u2019s made in government since she was hired.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are facing a filibuster that\u2019s gone on for more than 12 hours, a Liberal filibuster designed to block basic accountability,\u201d Barrett said Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press has reached out to Champagne\u2019s office for comment on Barrett\u2019s accusation but has not yet received a statement.<\/p>\n
After questions arose in the media about Champagne\u2019s connection to Alto, the finance minister\u2019s office shared a letter he sent last September to Prime Minister Mark Carney and to von Finckenstein.<\/p>\n
The letter states that Champagne was proactively implementing a conflict-of-interest screen \u201cdue to a personal connection to someone close to me in the organization, to safeguard against any real or perceived conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Champagne\u2019s office said the minister has not participated in any discussions or decisions tied to Alto since then. His office also said the initial funding for the project was announced in February 2025 and allocated in the main estimates in 2025, all before Gaudet was hired.<\/p>\n
A compliance officer in the ethics commissioner\u2019s office wrote to Champagne earlier this month to say there was no risk of a conflict because \u201cAlto is a Crown corporation accountable to Parliament through the minister of transport and as minister of finance you have no decision-making authority over matters of human resources at Alto, you do not have an opportunity to further the interest of any specific Alto employee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett has formally asked the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner to investigate.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that the government included legislation to enable the Alto project in its omnibus budget bill, which Champagne introduced and championed in Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy wasn\u2019t the bill with respect to the high-speed rail network act brought forward by the transport minister and not by the finance minister?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
During the ethics committee\u2019s last meeting, MPs debated for hours but did not vote on whether the minister should appear to answer questions.<\/p>\n
The Liberals have four members on the committee, while the Conservatives have four and the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois has one. That means opposition members could outvote the government members and request that Champagne appear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the opposite of what the prime minister said that Canadians should expect from parliamentarians at committee, and it is counter to the basic accountability that Canadians should demand of all parliamentarians,\u201d Barrett said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Carney told reporters that his new majority Liberal government would engage in serious debate and accused the opposition of \u201cshowboating\u201d and filibustering in committee.<\/p>\n
Now that the Liberals have a majority, they could vote in the House of Commons to change the makeup of committees. Majority governments historically have held a majority of seats on committees \u2014 a key step in the legislative process where bills are scrutinized and amended.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n