Jim Flaherty is a trusted deficit hawk. He’s been battling health problems and recently spoke out against the Prime Minister’s pledge on income splitting. It’s a modest surprise and is not good news for the Canadian dollar although the initial reaction has been nearly negligible. He was one of the strongest forces arguing for paying down government debt.
Update: Flaherty says the decision is not in any way related to his health and that he made the decision to return to the private sector earlier this year. The resignation is effective immediately.
That sounds like the kind of thing someone would say when they’re no longer seeing eye-to-eye with the Prime Minister.
The government will appoint a replacement “in the coming days”. Flaherty has been Canada’s finance minister since Feb 2006, I believe he was the longest-serving G8 finance minister.
So long lil’ Jimmy!
