Flaherty leaves big hole in Harper’s cabinet

WEDNESDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — Canada will get a new finance minister today, but it will be hard to replace Jim Flaherty.

It’s only proper to say that, no matter what the overall record of the Conservative government under Stephen Harper, because Flaherty was one of the longest-serving finance ministers and also served in provincial politics.

The analysts immediately got busy after his resignation Tuesday, speculating that Flaherty’s decision came about due to recent health problems, even though he denied that was the reason. There’s also talk about internal disagreements in cabinet over the issue of family income splitting that arose after the most recent budget.

Flaherty, who is 64, has been in politics sine 1990 and has been federal finance minister since 2006.

Those years haven’t been easy.  The worldwide recession that hit in 2008 brought an end to years of deficit reductions in Canada, and the country was soon back into stimulus spending.

But shortly before announcing his resignation, he was able to proclaim that Canada was returning to balanced budgets.

That’s a fine legacy. So fine that it’s hard to imagine Flaherty’s departure won’t add to the Conservatives recent political woes. The government’s strongest point of credibility has been its claim to efficient handling of the books, and Flaherty’s successor will have a big job protecting that record.