Toronto MP Joe Oliver to replace Flaherty as Canada’s finance minister
Posted March 19, 2014 9:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Natural Resources Minister and Toronto MP Joe Oliver will take over the position of Canada’s finance minister, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.
This comes after Jim Flaherty announced Tuesday that he has decided to resign from cabinet.
Oliver jumps into the role with a lot of experience in the financial sector.
He was an investment banker with Merrill Lynch, head of the Ontario Securities commission and served as the CEO of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada. He’s also been a solid minister for the government, rarely making a mistake and always willing to take on those that don’t see eye to eye with him.
Oliver is the MP for Eglinton-Lawrence.
This may also be a strategic choice for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, because unlike a few other cabinet ministers rumoured for the job, the 73-year-old doesn’t appear to have any leadership aspirations.
Flaherty has left Oliver with a plan to balance the books by next year, but Oliver will be leaving his portfolio with several controversial files, including the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Junior minister Greg Rickford, meanwhile, has been promoted to take over the Natural Resources portfolio.
With files from The Canadian Press
