Canada's marginal tax burden on capital is higher than America's, and Mr Martin's Liberals seem to have accepted the argument that bringing down the high rate of corporate tax would encourage investment.
And in this his job will have been made no easier by the revelation on June 30th that Martin Bangemann, a German who is the departing telecoms commissioner, had accepted a job at Spain's Telefonica, which he has been responsible for regulating.
The social worker said Ms Martin and Mrs Graham had wondered if it would have made a difference if they had not accepted things that Mr McCarney had said.