Indeed, as demonstrated by the large cheque ($4.5B?) to Ontario for following through on it.
The various tax reductions (corporate tax to 10%, etc.) were also Flaherty initiatives. Years of press off the cuff statements to press complaining about Ontario this and Ontario that included much of this stuff.
Talk about a double win. Flaherty got the tax policies he wanted for Ontario, but wasn't given the time to implement himself, and he seems to have made the provincial liberals out to be the bad guys.
I'm not fond of their policies but I give the Conservatives credit for being great at politics.