Jim Flaherty, Canadian lawyer and politician, 37th Canadian Minister of Finance (b. 1949)
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. 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, before deciding to enter federal politics and running for the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2006 election. With his party forming government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Flaherty as the new finance minister, a position he would hold until his resignation in 2014. During his tenure, Flaherty tabled nine federal budgets and shaped Canadian fiscal policy through the 2008 financial crisis. He was the longest continuously serving minister in Harper's government until his resignation. Flaherty died of a heart attack three weeks after his resignation as minister. His widow, Christine Elliott, is currently the deputy premier of Ontario.