19 Facts About Sharon Carstairs

Sharon Carstairs was educated at Dalhousie University, Smith College, Georgetown University, and the University of Calgary.

Sharon Carstairs later moved to Western Canada, and was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate for Calgary-Elbow in the 1975 Alberta provincial election.

Sharon Carstairs served as President of the Alberta Liberal Party between 1975 and 1977, and was on the national executive of the Liberal Party of Canada in the same period.

Sharon Carstairs became leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party in 1984, at a time when the party held no seats in the legislature.

Sharon Carstairs came second to Progressive Conservative candidate Charlie Birt in a 1984 by-election in the south Winnipeg electoral district of Fort Garry, but was elected for the central Winnipeg district of River Heights in the 1986 provincial election, defeating incumbent Tory Warren Steen.

Sharon Carstairs led the Liberal Party to a dramatic resurgence in the 1988 provincial election, which saw the New Democratic Party of Manitoba under Howard Pawley reduced from government to third party status, and the election of a Progressive Conservative minority government under Gary Filmon.

Sharon Carstairs' Liberals won 20 of 57 seats for their best showing since 1953, largely by drawing many centre-left voters from the NDP.

Sharon Carstairs became leader of the opposition, the first woman to hold such a position in any Canadian legislature.

Many Liberals felt Sharon Carstairs had squandered their best chance in three decades to form government.

Sharon Carstairs's efforts were opposed by others in the Liberal Party, and she frequently argued with Lloyd Axworthy on constitutional matters.

Sharon Carstairs resigned as party leader in 1993 and was succeeded by MLA Paul Edwards.

In 1993, Sharon Carstairs published an autobiography entitled Not One of the Boys.

Sharon Carstairs had supported Chretien's campaign to become party leader in 1990.

Sharon Carstairs held the position of Leader of the Government in the Senate from January 2001 to December 2003, and served as Minister with Special Responsibility for Palliative Care in Chretien's cabinet.

Sharon Carstairs did not serve in the cabinet of Chretien's successor, Paul Martin, when he took office in December 2003.

From April 2006 until December 2009, Sharon Carstairs continued her earlier work in cabinet by serving as chairperson of the Special Committee on Aging which issued a report that helped get palliative care added to the core curriculum in Canadian medical schools.

Sharon Carstairs helped create the Canadian Virtual Hospice, a website with information on palliative care.

In October 2011, Sharon Carstairs announced she was resigning from the Senate to return to private life; she was then 69 years old, five and a half years shy of the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Sharon Carstairs became chair of the board for a network centre of excellence on caring for the frail elderly, pending the approval of a grant from the federal government.