Joe Oliver leaves Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. Oliver was named the new finance minister. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
March 19, 2014 - 6:56 AM
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has named Joe Oliver as his new finance minister.
Oliver — who had been the natural resources minister — replaces Jim Flaherty, who has decided to resign from cabinet.
Junior minister Greg Rickford, meanwhile, has been promoted to take over the Natural Resources portfolio.
The 73-year-old Oliver is widely respected within the Harper cabinet and among Conservatives, and is well known on Bay Street, having spent decades working there as an investment banker.
He went on to become executive director of the Ontario Securities Commission and then president of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada.
But Oliver has a much different demeanour than Flaherty, and often appears gruff and highly partisan.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014