Less than a month before he died, in a speech announcing his resignation as Canada’s Finance Minister, in a quote that’s perhaps eerily ironic, Flaherty stated:
“As many of you know, I faced a health issue over this past year. I have received much support and good wishes from Canadians across the country and for that, I am thankful. I am happy to report that I am on the road to a full recovery and the decision to leave politics was not related in any way to my health.”
On Toronto’s everlasting transit and transit-funding issues, Mr. Flaherty commented
“You have our money, now let’s get this subway built.”
During the summer of 2013, Justin Trudeau, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, admitted to smoked marijuana while still an MP. In addition to drawing a firestorm of criticism, news hounds made the rounds, asking all manner of politicians about their views, and whether or not they had every tried marijuana. This was Mr. Flaherty’s response:
“Yeah, in my teenage years … a couple of times, … I have to admit: I didn’t like it.”
In the fall of 2013, the Finance Minister announced he was freezing employment insurance premiums (another nod to his economic measures). About that he said
“More people are working, so more people are paying into the operating account of the employment insurance plan and fewer people are claiming.”
One of our national pastimes as Canadians is hockey. Flaherty, as is mentioned in our article on him, made his way into Princeton on a hockey scholarship. In the winter of 2014, as Canada was involved in the quest for the gold in international hockey, Flaherty was taking in the final game at a small pub in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Asked his opinion, he said
“They’re working hard, they’ve just got to keep it up.”
In case you missed that game … they kept it up!