'Just politics': Champagne rejects Alto criticism

Finance Minister Francois Philippe Champagne is brushing off Conservative calls for an investigation into his personal relationship with an Alto executive and the proposed high speed rail project as “just politics.”

Michael Barrett, the Conservative ethics critic, is trying to get the ethics committee to summon Champagne and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein to answer questions.

In September, Champagne recused himself from decisions about the high speed rail project a month after his partner, Anne-Marie Gaudet, became Alto’s vice-president.

The Conservatives want the ethics committee to examine decisions made by the government about Alto since Gaudet’s hiring and accuse the Liberals of filibustering the request to prevent the study from happening.

Alto is the Crown corporation responsible for the $90-billion high speed rail project that would connect Toronto and Quebec City.

Champagne says today he’s been very transparent about his personal relationship and that Finckenstein has been clear that there is no conflict of interest in this case.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2026.

—With files from Sarah Ritchie.