Carney Says Finance Minister Compliant With Ethics Rules Following Recusal From High-Speed Rail Project

Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne speaks in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on March 26, 2026. Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Mark Carney says his finance minister has recused himself from the federal government’s high-speed rail corridor initiative and is following applicable ethics rules.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne sent a letter to Carney in September 2025, advising him that he would not be able to take part in discussions regarding Ottawa’s plan to build the high-speed rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City, due to his partner’s ties to the Crown corporation leading the project.

“I am proactively applying a conflict of interest filter to Alto, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Government of Canada. This measure is being implemented due to a personal connection to someone close to me in the organization, to safeguard against any real or perceived conflict of interest,” Champagne wrote in the letter, according to the Toronto Star.

The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner told The Epoch Times in a statement that Champagne spoke to his advisor within the office and that it was copied on his letter to Carney dated Sept. 10, 2025.

Champagne’s partner, Anne-Marie Gaudet, became Alto’s vice president of environment in August 2025, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Carney commented on the recusal while taking questions from reporters during an unrelated announcement in Brampton, Ont., on April 7, saying that Champagne has followed the “rules and regulations in notification of the ethics commissioner.”

Champagne’s decision to recuse himself from dealings with the Alto corporation is not listed in the ethics commissioner’s public registry.

A spokesperson for the ethics commissioner said statements related to an office holder’s family, including a spouse, partner, or dependents, is not made public in the summary statement of the registry.

“All the information we are authorized to make public about Minister Champagne is in the public registry,” said Melanie Rushworth, director of communications with the ethics office.

Champagne completed his annual review with the commissioner in October 2025, and the registry contains an ethics screen regarding a company directed by his father, Bionest Technologies.

“The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and I have agreed that a conflict of interest screen is an appropriate compliance measure for me, aimed at preventing any opportunity to further the private interests of my father,” Champagne writes in the letter posted in the registry to explain compliance measures agreed to with the ethics commissioner.

As a public office holder, Champagne must adhere to the Conflict of Interest Act, which stipulates rules to prevent the furthering of private interest during the exercise of an official power.

The Epoch Times reached out to Champagne’s office but didn’t hear back by publication time.

Tory MP Michael Barrett, ethics critic for his party, wrote to the ethics commissioner on April 7 asking for an investigation into the matter.

“An investigation is absolutely essential here, including to validate the existence and application of his unpublished ‘conflict of interest filter’ in addition to all of Mr. Champagne’s parliamentary engagement on this matter,” Barrett wrote.

Champagne tabled the Carney government’s first budget in November 2025, which includes billions in funding for the Alto project over the next five years. The finance minister is also the sponsor of the legislation to enact the budgetary plan, Bill C-15 the Budget Implementation Act.

Bill C-15 was tabled in mid-November and received royal assent on March 26. Part of the bill enacts the High-Speed Rail Network Act, which allows Alto to expropriate land to build the rail corridor without going through the usual process.

Alto, which was established in 2022 under the name VIA HFR - VIA TGF Inc., says it will cost $60 billion to $90 billion to build the railway stretching approximately 1,000 kilometres. Budget 2025 sets aside $3.9 billion in new funding over the next five years for the development phase of the project.

Ottawa says the project’s construction could create 51,000 jobs and inject $35 billion into Canada’s GDP. The project has been referred to the Major Projects Office to enable construction to begin in four years.

In recent days the federal Conservatives have called for the cancellation of the project, raising concerns about increased national debt and the cost to taxpayers.

“The project’s total estimated cost is greater than the current federal deficit and would amount to nearly $8,000 for a family of four, for a service that two-thirds of surveyed Canadians said they would not use even once a year,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on March 31.

Poilievre also raised concerns about the planned expropriations, noting how expropriations to build the Mirabel airport north of Montreal took over far more farmland than was ultimately needed. The airport, once touted as a major accomplishment, stopped offering passenger flights in 2004 and now mostly services cargo aircrafts.

The Bloc Québécois is in favour of building a high-speed rail but has expressed concerns related to the current project, particularly around planned expedited expropriations.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet made the project a campaign issue in the upcoming Terrebonne byelection, given the proposed railway path would go through the riding north east of Montreal.

Carney said that consultations on the route are underway and that land owners would be compensated. “When you look at the overall, what the high speed rail does, it’s more cost effective, it’s more sustainable, it’s connecting our communities,” he said.