Flaherty to stay the course
Powerful steroid sometimes linked to ‘neuropsychiatric’ impairments
While battling his own health issues, finance minister prepares a budget unlike that of 2012,
The steroid Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is taking for a rare skin condition can cause anxiety and nervousness and, in rarer cases, serious psychological side effects including depression, confusion and even psychosis.
Flaherty’s office acknowledged Thursday he was taking prednisone, a commonly-prescribed corticosteroid drug, to treat “a nonlife threatening, but serious dermatological condition known as bullous pemphigoid.” The side effects of prednisone are serious enough that its use by airline pilots is limited by U.S. aviation authorities.
An uncharacteristically sluggish TV interview in Switzerland on Friday compelled Flaherty to go public with his condition.
Flaherty, 63, was in Davos to represent Canada at the annual conference of the World Economic Forum. He spoke with a thickened voice, sounded breathless and gave uncharacteristically short answers. His office denied there was any problem.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong,” said director of communications Dan Miles on Wednesday. “He was jetlagged, obviously, when he did the interview.”
Flaherty had taken an overnight “red eye” flight to Frankfurt before making a connection to Zurich. He was driven another two hours to Davos and spent the rest of the day in meetings, Miles said.
“He looked like a guy who just got off a flight not too long before and had a series of meetings.” The interview was taped on Flaherty’s second day in Davos, at about 3:30 a.m. Ottawa time.
In a followup email Wednesday night, Miles said there was more to the story behind the Davos interview and added, “If you are drawing the conclusion that it is alcohol you are wrong.” Then, in a Globe and Mail story published Thursday, Flaherty said the drug treatment caused his speech problem during the interview.
In the statement Thursday, his office denied the drug had any effect on his job performance. “This treatment has side effects such as bloating, weight gain, redness in the face and bouts of sleeplessness,” said the statement, credited to Miles.
“This treatment has in no way impacted Minister Flaherty’s ability to do his job, as he has been dealing with this health issue for nearly a year now while carrying out his duties as Minister of Finance and as MP for Whitby-Oshawa. The statement made no mention of the potentially serious psychological effects steroids such as prednisone can have on some patients, particularly those taking higher doses.
The drug is prescribed for a wide range of immune system disorders and inflammatory conditions.
Flaherty did not tell the Globe how much prednisone he is taking. His office did not respond to a request for more information on Thursday.
A spokesman for Harper said Thursday that “the prime minister wishes Minister Flaherty well and looks forward to continuing to work with him” on the government’s economic priorities.
Flaherty’s health troubles come as the Conservative government is trying to rein in a deficit, plan a budget and kick-start a growing yet sluggish Canadian economy.
The Bank of Canada and federal government are already looking for a new central banker. Mark Carney is leaving his job as Bank of Canada governor on June 1 to take over as the new governor of the Bank of England on July 1. His confirmation hearing is Feb. 7.
“While both Governor Carney and the finance minister have been key men at the helm of policy in recent years, we are confident that the available talent pool is deep enough to find replacements, if need be, to minimize any market concerns,” Avery Shenfeld, chief economist of CIBC World Markets, said Thursday.