Jim Flaherty dead at 64

File: Jim Flaherty - Dec. 30, 1949-April 10, 2014

Former Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty died Thursday. The House of Commons immediately suspended business on learning of his death. He was 64.

Flaherty had been battling a rare skin condition and resigned last month stating that he wanted to return to the private sector. He said his illness was not a contributing factor. He had planned to serve out his term as the MP for the riding of Whitby-Oshawa but did not plan to seek re-election in 2015.

CBC news reported Thursday afternoon that he might have died of a heart attack. 
Flaherty was born Dec. 30, 1949, in the Montreal suburb of Lachine, the sixth of eight Flaherty children. His family were Liberal supporters but he switched to the conservatives while he was at Osgoode Hall Law School.

He was widely credited with helping the Harper government fight its way back from the depths of the recession and leading it to the verge of a balanced budget.

About Jim Flaherty

• James Michael Flaherty, 64, was born Dec. 30, 1949, in the Montreal suburb of Lachine, the sixth of eight Flaherty children.
• He took a newspaper delivery route as a kid in order to afford a $52 pair of Tack skates.
• His family were Liberal supporters, meaning he was one by default. It was while at Osgoode Hall Law School that Mr. Flaherty once said he gained the “independence of thought” that led him to be a Conservative.
• He attended Princeton University on a hockey scholarship after being noticed by a scout at an invitational tournament at McGill University. It was at Princeton he heard Robert Kennedy speak about the call of public service.
• He lost his first political bid, running unsuccessfully for the federal Tory nomination in a Toronto-area riding in 1988. He first ran provincially in 1990, coming in third.
• Elected to the Ontario legislature in 1995 as part of the so-called “Common Sense Revolution,’’ he served as finance minister and deputy premier in Mike Harris government in Ontario between 2001 and 2002.
• He ran unsuccessfully twice for leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.
• First elected to the House of Commons in 2006, he has served as finance minister since.
• Mr. Flaherty and his wife, Ontario Tory MPP Christine Elliott, have triplet boys: John, Quinn and Galen.

Source: National Post