Jim Carr Obituary, Death – Jim Carr, Former cabinet minister and current Liberal MP for Winnipeg South Centre Jim Carr died on December 12, 2022, at his home in Winnipeg after a long battle with blood cancer. He was 71-year-old. Jim was a politician, journalist, and professional oboist from Canada. From 2018 to late 2021, he was a Minister without Portfolio in Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet. Carr served as Natural Resources Minister from 2015 to 2018, and International Trade Diversification Minister from 2018 to 2019. He resigned from Cabinet in 2019 after being diagnosed with cancer, but was appointed as Trudeau’s special representative to the Prairies.
In 2021, he returned to cabinet as a minister without portfolio while continuing to act as the Prairies’ special representative. He served in the Manitoba Legislature as a member of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1988 until 1992. Carr was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Russian Jewish immigrants who came in 1906. He had his bar mitzvah in 1964 at Winnipeg’s Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, and he attended the Universities of Winnipeg, British Columbia, and McGill. [Citation required] He was a journalist, musician, and administrator who had previously served as a trustee and oboist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Carr and four other Young Liberals joined the New Democratic Party of Manitoba on June 3, 1969, to support Sidney Green’s failed leadership quest. He later rejoined the Liberal Party. He worked as a reporter and editor for the Winnipeg Free Press from the early to mid-1990s. He was the executive director of the Manitoba Arts Council before entering politics. Carr initially ran for the Manitoba legislature in 1986, losing to Progressive Conservative leader Gary Filmon in the upscale Tuxedo seat in west Winnipeg. He campaigned again in the 1988 provincial election, during a period of growing popularity for the provincial Liberals, and earned an unexpectedly big victory in the Fort Rouge constituency, defeating NDP cabinet minister Roland Penner by over 2,000 votes.
The Progressive Conservatives were able to create a minority administration following the election, and Carr was chosen Deputy Leader of the official opposition party. Carr was re-elected to the Crescentwood seat in the 1990 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative Tom DeNardi by 1,310 votes. Carr resigned his seat in February 1992, after the Liberals were defeated by a margin of twenty seats in this election.