On January 23, 2015, the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) unveiled a bursary program to honour the legacy of Jim Flaherty.

From left: Jayson Myers, CME President and CEO; Christine Elliott, Whitby-Oshawa MPP; UOIT President Tim McTiernan, PhD; Susan McGovern, UOIT Vice-President, External Relations and Advancement; Dr. Colin Carrie, Oshawa MP. (Photo: UOIT)

Flaherty passed away in 2014 at age 64 after a long and storied career in both provincial politics and on the federal scene. He became Finance Minister in 2006 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, stepping away from his post shortly before his death.

His legacy will live on at the University of ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), a school he worked tirelessly to found.

CME’s generosity was recognized with a private ceremony at the university that featured many special guests, including Jim Flaherty’s wife Christine Elliott, ontario Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Whitby-Oshawa MPP.

“I appreciate that CME chose the University of ontario Institute of Technology for this commemorationThe bursary for a student with special needs will help to fulfill another of his goals: equality of opportunity for people of all abilities. Thank you CME, says Christine Elliott, who spoke on behalf of the Flaherty family.

The bursary will support students who enroll in manufacturing programs at UOIT in honour of the devotion Flaherty had for breaking down barriers for students with special needs. Through its national membership, CME is pursuing to build an endowment fund of more than $100,000 to support an annual bursary that will be awarded to as many students as possible. The first $2,000 bursary will be presented in the 2014-2015 academic year.

This bursary will support our university’s unwavering commitment to student success and our strategic mandate to pursue research and development in the area of advanced manufacturing, says Tim McTiernan, PhD, UOIT President and Vice-Chancellor.

Our aim was to fund an endowment to support an annual bursary to provide substantial support to as many of ‘Jim’s kids’ as possible. We’re proud to launch that today, said Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters President and CEO Jayson Myers. We were all deeply saddened when Jim passed away.

Myers explained that Jim was such a strong champion of manufacturing across Canada. His dedications was the impetus for launching the UOIT bursary.

None of the fiscal initiatives taken by the federal Government that have benefited manufacturers over the past eight years would have been implemented without the leadership, understanding and strong support of Jim Flaherty, says Myers.

For more information, visit www.cme-mec.ca.