House ethics committee votes to question finance minister on Alto connection

OTTAWA – Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will appear before the House ethics committee next month to answer questions about his connection to the Alto high-speed rail project, after a lengthy Liberal filibuster.

Champagne recused himself from decisions about the project last September, a month after his partner, Anne-Marie Gaudet, became a vice-president at Alto.

The Crown corporation is responsible for the proposed $90-billion high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City.

The conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, Konrad von Finckenstein, has told Champagne that he is not in a conflict of interest and that he would not need to implement an ethics screen. Champagne’s office said he decided to recuse himself anyway.

Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett said he has questions about whether the minister truly recused himself from cabinet decisions related to Alto, given that there are no public disclosures on the ethics commissioner’s website.

The Liberal members of the committee dragged out debate for hours over whether Champagne, along with the ethics commissioner and the Alto CEO, would be called in for questioning.

After meetings that stretched over several days, the committee agreed to have Champagne and von Finckenstein appear for one hour. 

“Frankly, we were faced with the prospect of an unlimited filibuster, or a filibuster without end, by the Liberals and we want to be able to bring some measure of accountability to bear,” Barrett said. 

The finance minister told reporters last week at a press conference in Washington, D.C., that the Conservatives’ call for him to testify at the committee was “just politics.”

“I’ve respected all the rules and that went even beyond what was suggested to me by the commissioner, to avoid any sense of potential or possible conflict of interest,” Champagne said last Friday.

A spokesperson for Champagne’s office said Tuesday the minister is “looking forward to meeting with the ethics committee to outline the steps he proactively undertook to go above and beyond what the (law) requires.”

Barrett argued the case is evidence that the country’s rules on conflicts of interest are not strong enough.

“It also speaks to how the ethics laws in this country need to be more robust so that they afford Canadians the confidence that decisions that are being made by ministers are in the best interest of Canadians and not in their own best interest,” he said.

Champagne’s date with the committee will happen the week of May 25. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2026.