The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is a "non-profit and non-partisan, advocacy organization dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and accountable government." So you'd think, given the federal Conservative's belief that government "must be fiscally prudent and should be limited to those responsibilities which cannot be discharged reasonably by the individual or others" that relations between the federation and the Harper administration would be cordial if not coozy. But you'd be wrong. Because the federation hasn't been able to meet with Jim Flaherty - despite having done so with every federal finance minister since the organization opened its Ottawa office in 1997. So what's going on?

In an interview with Public Eye, Minister Flaherty's press secretary Chisholm Pothier explained, "They were invited to a pre-budget consultation in 2006 - that's a sitdown with the minister to talk about issues. They didn't come for some reason. I can't tell you why." But Minister Flaherty has actually turned down meeting requests from the federation? Responded Mr. Pothier, "I'm not sure. The minister is, obviously, pretty busy. And we get a lot of requests for meetings. Not all of them can be accomodate. But, like I said, they were invited to a meeting with the minister in the lead-up to the 2006 budget. And they didn't come."