A second member of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Cabinet resigned Monday, citing concerns over allegations that the government sought to shield a construction company from a corruption trial.

Jane Philpott, the country's treasury board minister, announced her resignation in a statement in which she pointed to allegations that Trudeau and other officials tried to pressure the former attorney general to avoid prosecuting a major Canadian company on corruption charges.

"It grieves me to resign from a portfolio where I was at work to deliver an important mandate," Philpott said. "I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities, constitutional obligations. There can be a cost to acting on one’s principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them."

It grieves me to resign from a portfolio where I was at work to deliver an important mandate. I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities, constitutional obligations. There can be a cost to acting on one’s principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them. pic.twitter.com/EwO5dtdgG6 — Jane Philpott (@janephilpott) March 4, 2019

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Trudeau's office said in a statement that the prime minister spoke with Philpott earlier in the day, thanked her for her service and accepted her resignation.

Trudeau intended to make further comments about her departure and replacement at an event Monday night.

Philpott was considered a key member of Trudeau's Cabinet, and her resignation raises questions over how the scandal could impact Trudeau in an election year.

Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former attorney general who testified she was pressured in the SNC-Lavalin case, resigned from the Cabinet last month after being demoted to veteran affairs minister weeks earlier, The Associated Press reported.

The AP reported that Trudeau has acknowledged raising the issue of the company with Wilson-Raybould, but has defended it as an appropriate conversation.