Flaherty buys his budget shoes

In keeping with tradition, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty picked up a new pair of shoes in Toronto ahead of next week’s federal budget.

Flaherty told media gathered for the photo opportunity that there will be initiatives in the budget that will help encourage economic growth, jobs and prosperity in Canada.

He said the primary function of the budget is to make sure that Canada stays the course and continues to be the envy of the world.

By tradition, finance ministers wear a new pair of shoes when they deliver the annual budget.

The shoe store, Mellow Walk, bills itself as a maker of fashionable industrial safety footwear. It’s the second year in a row Flaherty went to a north-Toronto store for his new shoes. Last year he went to Roots Leather Factory.

Flaherty has said he doesn’t expect the budget to be balanced. The Conservatives plan to post a surplus in 2015, just in time for the next election.

The federal budget is expected Feb. 11.

Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.