TORONTO — Jim Flaherty kept mum yesterday and his protagonists were offering a peace pipe so maybe the whole tedious fight between the federal and Ontario governments is over.
Don't bet on it, however.
Mr. Flaherty loves a fight - you don't survive as a 5-foot-4 hockey player unless you know how to mix it up. And the federal Conservative Finance Minister has got himself into a corker in taking on Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Finance Minister, Dwight Duncan. It's three Irish lads outside the pub and may the one with the fastest boots win. The Ontario politicians are discovering why, back in the day, there used to be a sign over the entrance to the Irish city of Galway that said: "From the ferocious O'Flahertys, may God protect us."
In truth, Mr. McGuinty started the fight by complaining incessantly that Ontario taxpayers don't get back from Ottawa the value for the money its taxpayers send there. Paul Martin heard the same complaints and largely caved. Stephen Harper hasn't proved so flexible and for more than three weeks, Mr. Flaherty has enthusiastically spread the message around Canada that the McGuinty government has sown the seeds of its own economic misfortune by refusing to cut taxes.
But even though Mr. Flaherty has shown over the years that he relishes a political battle, no one at Queen's Park believes he is acting on his own. A variety of motives has been forwarded - either Mr. Flaherty wants to deflect blame from his doorstep for the sagging Ontario economy in advance of a federal election expected this year or he's trying to show up Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.
Publicly, Mr. Duncan refuses to speculate although privately he's been as active as anyone else at the Ministry of Finance in trying to figure out what's going on. Mr. Duncan has told his staff that there was no animosity between him and Mr. Flaherty when they both served in the Ontario legislature for a decade. Indeed, Mr. Flaherty embraced the politician's duality - he was fiercely partisan in the House but got along well with MPPs of all parties outside of it.
Former Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara says relations between him and Mr. Flaherty were "extremely good" when they both held finance portfolios and that they co-operated on reforming federal equalization.
"What has clearly changed is that politics has entered the equation," Mr. Sorbara said. "This isn't about Jim Flaherty, frankly, given the Jim that I know. This is about Stephen Harper's office trying to prepare the terrain for a federal election."
Of course, Mr. Flaherty's campaign against the McGuinty government has also put Mr. Tory somewhat in the shadows. It's raised speculation about whether Mr. Flaherty is trying to pursue his own leadership ambitions or to further those of his wife, Ontario MPP Christine Elliott.
No one is talking openly about it (although Mr. Duncan did mischievously encourage gossip about Mr. Flaherty's motives when he told reporters on budget day that "I'm not going to speculate on whether he's running for the provincial Tory leadership.") Mr. Tory this week dodged a question on the issue, saying that the federal minister is simply speaking out about what he feels are misguided Ontario economic policies. And Ontario MPP Lisa MacLeod says Mr. Flaherty has done provincial Conservatives a favour by making Mr. McGuinty's handling of the economy a national issue.
Mr. Flaherty may accept Mr. Duncan's invitation to bury the hatchet. Then again, he may embark on a new round of blistering criticism. Either way, we know why the folk in ancient Galway were nervous.
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