Meet your new finance minister

Today, Joe Oliver has been sworn in as the new finance minister, replacing Jim Flaherty, who is slowly retreating to the private sector.

Joe Oliver has had some challenges in the past handling the Natural Resource file and will have to step up his game in this important portfolio. Especially as finance ministers are expected to take a more serious and less partisan approach than Mr. Oliver has managed while in Natural Resources.

Just consider some of the many questionable things Mr. Oliver said:

"I think that people aren't as worried as they were before about global warming of two degrees…Scientists have recently told us that our fears (on climate change) are exaggerated," he [Oliver] added, although could not point to which scientist are behind that claim. – Vancouver Observer, April 12th, 2013 “These (environmental) groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda. They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest. ” – Globe and Mail, January 9th, 2012 “If the (Keystone pipeline) project is not built, GHG emissions would rise by 28% to 42%. Therefore, opposing this project would not only block tens of thousands of Canadian jobs, it would also exacerbate the problem of climate change.” – House of Commons, February 3rd, 2014 Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was dogged by criticism in Vancouver today for describing many First Nations communities as “socially dysfunctional” at a Vancouver Board of Trade breakfast today. – Vancouver Observer, March 21st, 2012

Let's not forget that epic exchange he had with Megan Leslie in the House of Commons, two years ago.

Canadians deserve ministers who know what they’re talking about – and a finance minister who puts the interests of Canadians first, not their well-connected Conservative friends.