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. 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. 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%, introduced the tax-free savings account, and dealt with the Great Recession; the $55.6 billion deficit in the 2009 Canadian federal budget 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.

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