Flags are flying at half-mast on Parliament Hill and at Toronto City Hall this morning in memory of Jim Flaherty. He died of a heart attack at the age of 64 less than a month after resigning as Finance Minister.

Tributes continue to pour in from government and the private sector. Toronto’s Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly tells CP24 how Flaherty made a name for himself in the international community during the global financial crisis. He says Flaherty “took centre state during the Great Recession and made every one of us proud to be Canadian.”

Flaherty is also being remembered for his work as an MP in his community. In 2009, All Saints Church in Whitby was nearly destroyed by a fire caused by arson. Flaherty and his wife, MPP Christine Elliot, rallied the community to raise money to rebuild the church.

Question Period has been suspended today so that MPs can offer their tributes to Jim Flaherty.