The state funeral for Jim Flaherty will be held this Wednesday afternoon at 3 o’clock at the historic St. James Cathedral here in Toronto.  Visitation takes place tomorrow afternoon from 12:30 to 4 and in the evening from 6:30 to 8 at the Abilities Centre in Whitby, the home riding of the former Finance Minister.  The Abilities Centre is an initiative long championed by Flaherty and his widow MPP Christine Elliot. The family is asking that, in lieu of flowers, mourners make donations to the centre.

This will be Canada’s 35th state funeral.  State funerals are customarily given to current and former prime ministers and governors general, as well as to cabinet ministers who die in cabinet.  But the Prime Minister can grant state funerals in special cases, most recently for Jack Layton in 2011.

Jim Flaherty served as finance minister from 2006 until last month.  He was highly regarded in international financial circles for his handling of the global recession in 2009.

He died suddenly of an apparent heart attack in his Ottawa condo on Thursday, just three weeks after retiring from politics. He was 64.