Sharon Carstairs turned the provincial Liberal party for a time into a viable governing option, but the so-called Lady in Red has since made her mark championing end-of-life care in Canada.
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Sharon Carstairs turned the provincial Liberal party for a time into a viable governing option, but the so-called Lady in Red has since made her mark championing end-of-life care in Canada.
Carstairs, 68, announced this week that she will retire from the Senate sometime this fall, six years earlier than the mandatory retirement age of 75.
JOE BRYKSA/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES
'The passion is still with me, but I'm tired' -- Senator Sharon Carstairs
Carstairs, who is in Brussels, Belgium speaking at an International Symposium on Palliative Care, said on Friday, "it is simply time.
"I have been in public life for 27 years. I will be 69 next month and my husband will turn 78 this year.
"The passion is still with me, but I'm tired."
Looking back on almost three decades of public service, Carstairs said her "happiest moment" was the 1988 provincial election where she took a perennially third place party and brought it to the official Opposition -- the first Canadian woman to do that.
"The lowest point has been the last few months in the Senate where there is little respect shown by this government to the work we do," she said.
But just because Carstairs is retiring from the Senate -- she said it will be this fall, but no date has been set -- it doesn't mean she'll be putting her feet up.
"My greatest satisfaction has been the movement we have made in caring for the dying," she said. Carstairs said in 1995 only five per cent of Canadians had access to palliative care, however, today coverage is up to 30 per cent.
"Clearly we still have work to do and I will continue to work in this area after I have retired as I am on the Champions Council of the Canadian Hospice and Palliative Care Association."
Carstairs, who has authored two books, said she also plans to write a book on her "coast-to-coast-to-coast travels on behalf of palliative care."
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Current provincial Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard called Carstairs "a friend and a wonderful person.
"She has made a great contribution to the Canadian political landscape the last 30 years. She did extremely well in the 1988 election and came quite close to getting the most seats and getting into government.
"And her work with palliative care here and around the world in the Senate has been quite incredible." Gerrard also credited Carstairs with encouraging more women to run for office.
Former premier Gary Filmon could not be reached for comment.
An interview request with Gary Doer, now Canada's ambassador to the U.S., but leader of the third-place NDP when Carstairs swept her party into second place, was rejected because of protocol after the fall of the federal government.
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Sharon Carstairs was born April 26, 1942, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Harold and Vivian Connolly. Harold was Halifax North MLA and minister of Industry and Trade; later premier in 1954, appointed to the Senate in 1955.
Bachelor of arts in political science and history at Dalhousie University. Master of arts in the teaching of history at Smith College, in Massachusetts.
As a teacher she taught in Massachusetts, Alberta and Manitoba.
In 1988, led the Liberal Party of Manitoba to second place and was the first woman in Canada to lead the official Opposition.
Appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Jean Chrétien in 1994 and from 1997 to 1999 was the first woman to serve as deputy leader of the government in the Senate.
Chrétien gave Carstairs special responsibility for palliative care in 2001.
Author of Not One of the Boys and a contributing author to Dropped Threads.
Married to John Carstairs. They have two daughters, Catherine and Jennifer.
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