Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced on Tuesday that he would be resigning from the Harper cabinet after spending more than 8 years dealing with the finances of Canada. That tenure makes him the third longest serving finance minister in the history of Canada.

The resignation prompted words of congratulations and best wishes in the Manitoba Legislature from both members of the Progressive Conservative Party and the NDP government. This rare moment of bi-partisan spirit is deserving for Flaherty and Manitobans have much to be thankful for his work as Canada’s finance minister. When the global financial crisis hit North America in 2008, Mr. Flaherty had several choices to make. He, along with other western countries, made the decision to ensure banks were stabilized, thus averting further economic disaster.

As importantly, Flaherty took a different path than his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin. During difficult economic times Mr. Martin and the Chretien Liberal government cut deeply the transfer payments to provincial provinces causing many, including Manitoba, to have to make very difficult economic decisions. Flaherty made the decision to ensure that transfer payments were not reduced and in some cases increased which meant that a province like Manitoba didn’t see revenue decreases during this time.

In fact, Manitoba has been one of the greatest benefactors of the policies of Mr. Flaherty as record transfer payments have continued to flow despite global uncertainty making the economic uncertainty far less in Manitoba.

And since then he has worked diligently to reduce the federal deficit to the point that he leaves with it now on the brink of a surplus and the envy of most G-7 nations. Along the way he helped bring in a number of creative measures to improve the finances of all Canadians. One common sense initiative was the tax free savings account which recognized it was good for Canadians to have savings and that it made little sense for the government to tax those savings. And he accomplished these and other initiatives while battling a painful skin condition in recent years which required steroid treatment that produced challenging side effects.

As Mr. Flaherty prepares to transition to life in the private sector he leaves behind a financial record of prudence and foresight. If there is regret, it is that not every province decided to follow the same path of careful spending and priorities. In Manitoba we see that higher debt and higher taxes are the result of following a different approach as practiced by the NDP government.

Few public representatives are able to look back over a career as challenging and successful as Mr. Flaherty. He deserves the thanks of Canadians and Manitobans for a steady hand through difficult times.