Alfonso Gagliano, a former Liberal cabinet minister in charge of the mismanaged federal sponsorship program at the heart of an extensive public inquiry launched in 2004, has bought a Quebec vineyard with a government loan of more than $500,000, according to a media report.

Montreal's La Presse newspaper reported Saturday that the purchase of the Dunham vineyard in Quebec's Eastern Townships was registered last Friday in the Quebec Land Registry for $733,687. The loan from Farm Credit Canada, a federal Crown corporation, was for $550,000.

Gagliano and his family plan to harvest the grapes in the next few weeks and sell their wine under the name Gagliano Vineyard by next spring, the ex-public works minister told La Presse.

As public works minister in the late 1990s, Gagliano was responsible for a federal advertising program aimed at promoting federalism in Quebec.

A 2005 report by Justice John Gomery said Gagliano and then prime minister Jean Chrétien shared some responsibility for the millions of dollars that were skimmed by Liberal-friendly ad agencies under the guise of the program.

Gagliano has never faced criminal charges in the sponsorship scandal.

Dimitri Soudas, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, said in an e-mail to the Canadian Press on Saturday that "Alfonso Gagliano receiving a loan from Farm Credit Canada was disturbing."

"The Conservative Government believes that money should go to help farmers, not former Liberal cabinet ministers," he said.

Soudas said the Tories are in the process of tightening the guidelines that Crown corporations must take into account when loaning money.

He said that means all federal Crown corporations engaged in commercial lending will have to take into account "the personal integrity" of an individual during the review of that person's loan application.