Whitby remembers Flaherty as a genuinely nice guy

durhamregion.com
April 11, 2014

There’s a small grey table in the back corner of T&D Family Restaurant where Jim Flaherty loved to eat French fries.

“That’s where he’d sit. Right over there,” said Chad Kawasaki, who works at the Whitby diner and exudes the same easy friendliness as most people visiting the two-storey strip mall on Thursday night, where the ex-finance minister had his constituency office. And also like most of them, Kawasaki had memories of Flaherty to share.

“He’s a great guy. He’s been living in this town most of his life,” said Kawasaki, who last saw Flaherty when he came for a bite last month.

“He’d always ask how you’re doing, and I’m like, ‘You’re asking me that?’ I’d be honoured . . . . He never treated people on a different level. He treated them equal.”

Flaherty died suddenly in Ottawa on Thursday. He was 64.

In this town of open fields and clusters of suburban development, flags at half mast fluttered in the wind outside municipal buildings while locals shook their heads and spoke of the man who’s represented them for nearly 20 years, both at Queen’s Park and in the House of Commons.

Flaherty, they say, was the genuine article, the kind of guy who’d keep a nice lawn and stop for a chat about the weather.

“It’s just very, very sad,” said Dave Barr, an employee at the MMM Group engineering firm next door to Flaherty’s now-locked up office.

Downstairs at a tidy pharmacy, Connie Schwarz said she didn’t feel like coming to work when she heard of Flaherty’s death. She’d have short visits with the minister on weekends when he would pop in to pick up his medicine.

“He was a genuinely nice individual,” she said. “We all had a lot of confidence that our economy was in very good hands . . . . I feel incredibly sad today.”

The impact of Flaherty’s death extends beyond Whitby to the rest of the GTA, the region he represented in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, a close family friend of Flaherty’s, cancelled a press conference as news of the finance minister’s death reached city hall Thursday. The mayor made a brief, emotional statement while his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, stood at his side with tears in his eyes.

“Jim will be remembered as a relentless fighter and a champion of the people,” said Mayor Ford.

“He was an honourable man, husband, father and politician who dedicated his life to his family and to the Canadian public service . . . . It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that I say goodbye to a very special friend. We love you, Jim and we’ll miss you.”

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua shared his condolences Thursday, saying Flaherty would be remembered for his years of public service federally and provincially.

“An authentic and genuine individual with a deep love of family, community and country, he has made a significant difference to Canada and the world,” said Bevilacqua.