Jenny Carter
Encyclopedia
Jenny Carter is a former politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. She was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 from 1990 to 1995, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae
Bob Rae
Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

.

Background

Carter has a degree in French from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, degrees in English and Canadian Studies from Trent University
Trent University
Trent University is a liberal arts and science-oriented institution located along the Otonabee River in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.The enabling legislation is the Trent University Act, 1962-63. The University was founded through the efforts of a citizens' committee interested in creating a...

 in Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...

, and a post-graduate certificate from the Institute of Education
Institute of Education
The Institute of Education is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with...

. She worked as a secondary school teacher before entering political life.

Carter's husband Cyril, who once ran for the federal New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

, died in 1993. Trent University currently offers Cyril and Jenny Carter Scholarships in Environmental Studies and Mathematics.

Politics

She became the NDP candidate for Peterborough
Peterborough (electoral district)
Peterborough is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953.The riding's borders have differed slightly since its creation in 1953, but has always included most or all of Peterborough County and its county seat of...

 in the 1990 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1990
The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....

. The NDP won a majority government in this election and Carter upset Liberal
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 incumbent Peter Adams by 134 votes.

She was appointed to Rae's first cabinet on October 1, 1990, as the provincial Minister of Energy. A self-confessed novice, she said that her husband knew more about the energy sector then she did. Shortly after her appointment her husband who was a member of the Peterborough Utilities Commission resigned his post. He said, "Legally, I have no conflict but I recognize the public perception of conflict of interest is wider than the strict legal definition of a specific pecuniary interest."

In November 1990, Carter announced that the government was putting a freeze on the construction of nuclear plants. She told Ontario Hydro to divert $240 million earmarked for site preparation for new nuclear plants to instead be used for energy conservation efforts. Carter who earlier said in a speech to the house that she was an anti-nuclear activist declared, "We cannot afford to keep building power stations at $25 billion each." She promised to give priority to new hydroelectric and natural gas projects. Rather than a total ban, she said that she would await the outcome of a study of Ontario's energy needs for the next 25 years.

In March 1991, Carter announced that the government would switch heating in public housing projects to gas from electricity. She said, "Installing gas heating in new non-profit homes will save 100 megawatts."

In July 1991, Carter was dropped from cabinet. Critics said that she failed to establish herself as energy minister. She was replaced by William Ferguson
William A. Ferguson
William A. "Will" Ferguson was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1994, and served as Minister of Energy in the government of Bob Rae....

. For the remainder of her term, she served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Citizenship
Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (Ontario)
The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration is responsible for citizenship and immigration issues in the Canadian province of Ontario. Overall immigration and citizenship policy is still held by the federal government....

.

In 1995
Ontario general election, 1995
The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada...

 Carter lost to Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...

 Gary Stewart
Gary Stewart (politician)
Richard Gary Stewart is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and briefly served as a cabinet minister under Mike Harris.Stewart was educated at Banting Institute, receiving a Mortician Certificate, and...

 in her bid for re-election.

After politics

Since leaving politics, Carter has contributed occasional articles to the Peterborough Collective and has served on the Peterborough NDP riding association
Riding association
In Canadian politics a riding association , officially called an electoral district association is the basic unit of a political party, that is it is the party's organization at the level of the electoral district, or "riding"...

 executive.

External links

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