Folks,

First there was SNC-Lavalin. Then Brookfield. Now a $90-billion high-speed rail project.

The leader might change, but the Liberals’ insatiable appetite for projects that seem to benefit insiders never seems to end.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says he recused himself due to a “personal connection” to the high-speed rail project known as Alto. According to his own letter, he applied a conflict-of-interest filter on at least two matters:
• A biotech company run by his father
• And Alto, the government-backed rail project expected to cost taxpayers up to $90 billion

Buckle up, folks, and keep your eyes peeled.

Champagne acknowledged that his girlfriend, Anne-Marie Gaudet, was hired as Alto’s vice-president of the environment in August…right in the middle of federal budget planning. That alone should raise eyebrows. And while funding for the project had been discussed earlier, the government later committed serious taxpayer dollars:

That’s real money. Taxpayer money.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last week that his party would scrap it if elected. Poilievre said his concerns include the price tag and that it would require too much land expropriation.

And when billions start flowing into projects connected to people inside the Liberal sphere of influence, Canadians have every right to ask hard questions. Not partisan questions… accountability questions.

Because history matters here. Canadians remember SNC-Lavalin. They remember Brookfield. And now they’re seeing yet another massive infrastructure project tied to personal connections at the highest levels of the Liberal Cabinet.

Bottom line: Social media is being flooded with cartoons comparing the Liberals’ $90-billion bullet train to the Simpsons Springfield monorail. They’re funny and clever…but let’s remember… these are real tax dollars, taken from hard-working Canadians, with the risk of lining the pockets of Liberal cronies.