Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty speaks to media as he leaves the Conservative caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday May 12, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickSean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Some might say this amounts to pumping extra rounds into a dead body.
Another way to look at it is the global bank tax, that menace to free-market capitalism that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty took out at a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs last month, just refuses to die.
Word out of the Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office is that four cabinet ministers in four cities will make the case for stronger financial regulation and against a global bank levy tomorrow.
In Shanghai, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day speaks to the Canada-China Business Council; in Mumbai, Mr. Flaherty speaks at a lunch hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry; In Ottawa, Industry Minister Tony Clement and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Canon hold a press conference; and in Washington, Trade Minister Peter Van Loan speaks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Notably absent from this two-continent assault is Europe, which could represent the absence of suitable forum or a recognition that there's little Canada can say to convince Britain, Germany, France, Sweden and most of the rest of the European Union to back down on their desire to tax banks to raise cash for the next financial bailout.
While the clash of ideologies over the bank levy is more fun, whatever the ministers have to say on financial regulation could be more relevant. For a state of play, Bloomberg News describes in excellent detail where the real fight is at.