Jim Flaherty

James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Flaherty was born on December 30, 1949 in Lachine, Quebec, the son of Mary (née Harquail), who was from a "prosperous family", and Edwin Benedict Flaherty, an entrepreneur and chemist.

His parents were from New Brunswick, his father from Loggieville and his mother from Campbellton.

He was the sixth of eight children.

He attended Bishop Whelan High School and Loyola High School, Montreal.

Flaherty attended Princeton University, where he graduated cum laude with an A.B. in sociology in 1970.

He wrote his senior thesis, titled "Camp X: Sensitivity Training with a Group of Young Adults", on the sensitivity training at Camp X, a military training institute in Ontario.

He then received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University.

He practised law for 20 years, and was a founding partner of Flaherty Dow Elliott after splitting from Gilbert Wright and Flaherty.

Flaherty Dow Elliott & McCarthy LLP, as it is now known, is a law firm specializing in motor vehicle accident and personal injury litigation.

Flaherty ran for in the provincial election of 1990, finishing third against New Democrat Drummond White and Liberal Allan Furlong in the riding of Durham Centre.

First elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1995 under the Progressive Conservative (PC) banner, Flaherty would sit as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) until 2006, also serving in a number of Cabinet positions from 1997 to 2002 during Premier Mike Harris' government.

He unsuccessfully ran for the PC leadership twice.

He ran again and was elected in the 1995 election.

He was named Minister of Labour in the cabinet of Premier Mike Harris on October 10, 1997, and kept this position until after the 1999 election.

He also served as interim Solicitor General and Minister of Correctional Services from April 27 to July 27, 1998.

Flaherty was re-elected in the 1999 election in the redistributed riding of Whitby–Ajax, and was named Attorney General with responsibility for Native Affairs on June 17, 1999.

He was a key promoter of tax credits for parents sending their children to private and denominational schools, which the Tories had campaigned against in 1999.

On February 8, 2001, he was appointed Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier.

In June 2001, Flaherty was evicted from his constituency office in a theatrical action by Ontario Coalition Against Poverty which aimed to bring home the effects of his policies.

Flaherty ran to succeed Harris in the 2002 PC leadership election, but lost to frontrunner Ernie Eves, his predecessor as finance minister.

Flaherty's campaign featured attacks on Eves, calling him a "serial waffler" and a "pale, pink imitation of Dalton McGuinty".

Flaherty's leadership campaign focused on "law and order" themes, and one of his proposals was to make homelessness illegal.

His purported plan was to have special constables encourage homeless persons to seek out shelters or hospitals.

He argued that his policy would save the lives of homeless persons; leadership rival Elizabeth Witmer and other critics described it as callous, and ineffective against the root causes of homelessness.

Flaherty also promised to implement further tax cuts, carry through with plans to create a tax credit for parents sending their children to private school, and privatizing the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

Flaherty also emerged as a social conservative in this campaign, particularly a staunch stance against abortion and his association with anti-abortion groups.

On April 15, 2002, Eves demoted him to the less-prominent position of Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation.

Flaherty retained this position until the Tories were defeated in the provincial election of 2003.

Flaherty himself was re-elected by a reduced margin.

Following the defeat of the Conservatives, Eves announced that he would resign as leader in 2004.

Flaherty declared himself a candidate to succeed him, but was defeated by John Tory by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent on the second ballot of the PC leadership election held on September 18, 2004.

His supporters included former cabinet ministers John Baird, Tim Hudak and Norm Sterling.

His 2004 leadership campaign was similar to that of 2002.

Flaherty entered federal politics and ran for the Conservative Party in the 2006 election.

With his party forming government, Prime Minister Harper named Flaherty as finance minister.

As finance minister, Flaherty reduced personal income taxes and corporate taxes, reduced the goods and services tax to 5 percent, introduced the tax-free savings account, and combatted the 2008 financial crisis; the $55.6 billion deficit from the crisis was eliminated in 2014 as a result of major spending cuts.

Flaherty tabled nine federal budgets and was the longest continuously serving minister in Harper's government until his resignation in 2014.

Flaherty died of a heart attack three weeks after his resignation as minister.

His widow, Christine Elliott, later served as the deputy premier of Ontario.