entering public life, he was also executive director of the Manitoba Arts Council. Provincial politics Carr first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1986, losing to Progressive Conservative leader Gary Filmon in the upscale west Winnipeg riding of Tuxedo. He ran again in the provincial election of 1988 during a period of increased support for the provincial Liberals, and scored a surprisingly strong victory in the riding of Fort Rouge, defeating NDP cabinet minister Roland Penner by over 2,000 votes. The Progressive Conservatives formed a minority government after this election, and Carr became Deputy Leader of the official opposition party. Following redistribution, Carr sought re-election in the 1990 provincial election in the riding of Crescentwood, where he defeated Progressive Conservative Tom DeNardi by 1,310 votes. The Liberals fell from twenty seats to seven in this election; Carr resigned his seat in February 1992. Post-provincial politics After resigning his seat in 1992, Carr worked as a columnist and was on the editorial board for the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1998, he left and became president and CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, an organization which he co-founded and stayed with until 2015. In 2006, he advocated for the province to reduce its health costs, and to not exclude the option of privatization. "Everything is worth studying, and it's studied everywhere around the world. There are advances that have been made in other places, with cultures similar to our own, that could be applied here," said Carr. In this role, he also participated in the Winnipeg Consensus, which began with an unprecedented meeting held in October 2009, bringing together diverse organizations who agreed a national dialogue and a Canadian Clean Energy Strategy was needed on the role of energy in Canada's environmental and economic future. In his role as the President of the Business Council of Manitoba, Carr also advocated for a temporary increase to the PST by 1% to assist municipalities with their infrastructure deficits. Carr was also a board member on the Canada West Foundation and the Winnipeg Airports Authority, as well as vice-president of the Performing Arts Consortium of Winnipeg, and a director of the Manitoba Arts Stabilization Fund. Carr has also been active in the Canadian Jewish Congress. In July 2011, Carr was awarded the Order of Manitoba. Federal politics In January 2014, Carr was announced as a candidate for the Liberal nomination