Jeff Basil Carr (born February 7) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician, who was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick () is the deliberative assembly of the New Brunswick Legislature, in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The assembly's seat is located in Fredericton. It was established in Saint John ''de jure'' ...

in the 2014 provincial election. He represented the electoral district of New Maryland-Sunbury as a member of the Progressive Conservatives from 2014 until 2024. Throughout his political career, Carr spent three terms as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and was appointed twice as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

, first as the Minister of Environment and Local Government and secondly as the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure until being removed by

Blaine Higgs Blaine Myron Higgs (born March 1, 1954) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 34th premier of New Brunswick from 2018 to 2024 and leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) from 2016 to 2024. Higgs grad ...

in 2023 for supporting an opposing motion on Policy 713. On February 27, 2024, Carr announced that he would be leaving politics and would not run in the next election.

Political career

Following his re-election in 2018, Carr was appointed as Minister of Environment and Local Government. Carr was re-elected in the 2020 provincial election. Following premier

's revision of Policy 713, Carr, then serving as the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, expressed his “extreme disappointment in a lack of process and transparency” in a jointly signed letter with fellow cabinet minister

Daniel Allain Daniel Allain is a Canadian politician from New Brunswick. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick at the 2020 general election in the riding of Moncton East and sat in the legislature until 2024. He served as Minister of Lo ...

. On June 27, 2023, Higgs dismissed both Carr and Allain from their cabinet positions, citing a breach of cabinet solidarity due to their support for the opposition motion on the policy. Carr and Allain, along with resigned ministers Dorothy Shephard and

Trevor Holder Trevor Arthur Holder (born May 8, 1973) is a former Canadian politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2024. At the time of his resignation, he was the longest serving member of the legislature. ...

, all voted with the opposition parties on June 15 which favoured a Liberal motion which opposed the policy revision and called for increased consultation on the policy. Carr and Allain were both relegated to

backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...

positions, and new ministers were appointed to fill their cabinet roles. In an interview with

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, Carr, who remained a Progressive-Conservative MLA, expressed his disagreement with Higgs's leadership style. On February 27, 2024, Carr announced on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that he would be leaving politics and would not be running in the next election. On October 21, 2024, during election night for the 2024 general election, Carr spoke with

, stating that Liberal leader

Susan Holt Susan Holt (born April 22, 1977) is a Canadian politician, who has served as the 35th premier of New Brunswick since November 2, 2024, and has been the leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Association since August 6, 2022. She has served as th ...

"sustained a terribly negative hate attack campaign" by the Progressive Conservative party, calling for Higgs to apologize to Holt.

Personal life

Carr is the older brother of Jack Carr, his predecessor as MLA for New Maryland-Sunbury, and Jody Carr, the previous MLA for the neighbouring district of Oromocto-Lincoln. Prior to his election to the legislature, he worked as an executive assistant in his brother Jody's office when he was the Minister of Education and later as Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Jeff Living people Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Year of birth missing (living people)