With the 2007 budget's move toward equal per capita cash payments for Canada’s vertical fiscal transfers, restoration of a formula-based equalization program for horizontal fiscal transfers, and respect throughout for the constitutional division of powers, Thomas J. Courchene argues that Flaherty and the Harper government have delivered on their philosophical commitment to “open federalism.” .
IRPP Senior Scholar Thomas J. Courchene terms 2007 budget a "blueprint for fiscal federalism" in Pol 
