Quiet, commanding voice for Manitoba in Ottawa loved good talk By: Dan Lett Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Dec. 12, 2022 Last Modified: 9:59 PM CST Monday, Dec. 12, 2022 Updates

Opinion

Over my life as a journalist, I knew several versions of Jim Carr. All of them loved two things: a comfortable couch and a good talk.

Most recently, and immediately prior to his death this week at age 71, I knew Jim the member of Parliament and cabinet minister, a quiet but commanding voice for Manitoba in Ottawa. A man who, even during an extended period of illness, continued to smooth out disagreements, broker deals and solve problems.

While he was an MP, I was lucky enough to visit his constituency office on Corydon Avenue. He would always welcome me onto a remarkably comfortable couch, where we would share all manner of political gossip.

Last week, even though he was in the late stages of his battle with cancer, Jim appeared on the CBC to discuss the passing of C-235, a private member’s bill he sponsored.

The Building a Green Prairie Economy Act, which passed in the House of Commons in the first week of December, would give the minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada a mandate to help Prairie political leaders, First Nation, Métis and businesses prepare for the changes necessary to meet Canada’s net-zero emissions targets.

In many ways, it was a very Jim-like bill.

Always knowledgeable about the interconnection of business, industry and the environment, and respected across the Prairies by governments of all stripes for his ability to broker solutions. You could tell Jim very much imagined himself in this role well into the future.

“The Prairies hold so much potential for the future of Canada’s green economy,” he wrote in the Free Press in May. No one doubted he sincerely believed that.

However, I also knew other iterations of Jim Carr.

When I first met him, he was a newly elected Liberal MLA, one of the throng of Grits entering the Manitoba legislature via leader Sharon Carstairs’s “Red Wave” of 1988. Although many of those Liberals could not hang onto their seats in subsequent 1990 election, Jim did — and became a constant and welcomed sight in and around Manitoba politics.

He intrinsically understood the relationship between politics and the news media. Many a night, Jim would visit the Free Press offices in the legislative building. He would perch himself on a different couch in a small outer office and just talk.

About politics, life and the future of the province. Jim loved the mere act of the discussion.

Later, to my great surprise, Jim Carr was reimagined as my colleague. Despite building a safe base of political support in what was then-known as the Crescentwood electoral division, Carr resigned his seat in 1992, and came to work at the Free Press as as a member of the editorial board.

His hiring was the source of a minor controversy at the Free Press. Hire a politician fresh out of the Manitoba legislature to work in the newsroom? Welcome a partisan wolf into a journalistic chicken coop?

Those of us who knew Jim also knew he was perfect for the job.

Different office, different couch. This time more of a loveseat on the third-floor landing of the Free Press building on Mountain Avenue, but not a different Jim.

I spent many hours with Jim waxing poetic about the issues facing the city, province and country. This time, however, he could channel his many great thoughts into editorials and columns. The job suited him.

I spent many hours with Jim waxing poetic about the issues facing the city, province and country. This time, however, he could channel his many great thoughts into editorials and columns. The job suited him.

In 1998, yet another new version of Jim Carr was revealed when he left the Free Press and re-emerged as president and chief executive officer of the Business Council of Manitoba, a new organization allowing leaders of the province’s biggest companies to take a position on its foremost issues.

Under Jim’s direction, the BCM became a force on issues such as immigration, Indigenous education and reconciliation, and the environment. And, yes, I was lucky enough to spend time with him at his downtown office, perched on yet another couch, brainstorming solutions to the world’s problems.

Throughout all the versions of Jim Carr I knew, there were constants. His warmth and sincerity. His vast and deep understanding of complex issues. His interest in getting deals done and mending fences. His faith in the value of the mostly unseen work of a constituency politician.

And, as it turns out, his love of a comfortable couch and a good talk.

One last observation: every single time I met Jim Carr, without exception, he greeted me with a huge smile and one of the firmer handshakes I’ve ever received from a politician. He also, unprompted, took to calling me Danny.

Danny is a not-so-common version of my first name reserved for family and a very few close friends. Like Jim Carr.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Dan Lett
Columnist

Born and raised in and around Toronto, Dan Lett came to Winnipeg in 1986, less than a year out of journalism school with a lifelong dream to be a newspaper reporter.

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