{{Short description|Canadian politician (born 1931)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | honorific_suffix = ECO | successor1 = Gary Stewart | constituency1 = Peterborough | party = New Democratic | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1931|12|26}} | birth_place = Worcester Park, Surrey, England | occupation = Teacher | spouse = Cyril Carter (died 1993),<br>Ken Ranney | children = 3 }} '''Jenny Carter''' (born December 26, 1931) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae.
==Background== Carter obtained a degree in French from the University of London and degrees in English and Canadian Studies from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, and a post-graduate certificate from the Institute of Education.<ref name="Starting from scratch">{{cite news |title=Starting from scratch: Energy minister faces tough job without knowing 'technical things' |newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen |date=November 13, 1990 |page=A5}}</ref> She worked as a secondary school teacher before entering political life.<ref>{{cite news |first=Laurie |last=Stephens |title=Rookie MPPs face trial by fire in Ontario's first NDP government |newspaper=Kitchener - Waterloo Record |date=October 2, 1990 |page=A4}}</ref>
Carter's husband Cyril, who once ran for the federal New Democratic Party, died in 1993. As of 2017, Trent University offers Cyril and Jenny Carter Scholarships in Environmental Studies and Mathematics.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mycommunity.trentu.ca/file/TrentAwards2017.pdf |page=3 |title=Scholarships, Prizes, Bursaries & Awards |publisher=Trent University |accessdate=April 16, 2018}}</ref>
==Politics== In the 1990 provincial election, she ran as the NDP candidate in the riding of Peterborough. She defeated Liberal incumbent Peter Adams by 134 votes.<ref>{{cite news |first=Eoin |last=Kenny |title=Some MPs weigh in on provincial election |publisher=Kingston Whig - Standard |date=May 25, 1995 |page=6}}</ref><ref name="1990 Election Results">{{cite news |title=Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 7, 1990 |page=A12}}</ref>
She was appointed to Rae's first cabinet on October 1, 1990, as the provincial Minister of Energy.<ref name="1990RaeCabinet">{{cite news |title=Ontario cabinet |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=October 1, 1990 |page=A4}}</ref> A self-confessed novice, she said that her husband knew more about the energy sector then she did.<ref name="Starting from scratch"/> Shortly after her appointment, her husband, who was a member of the Peterborough Utilities Commission, resigned his post. He said, "Legally, I have no conflict, but I recognize the public perception of conflict of interest is wider than the strict legal definition of a specific pecuniary interest."<ref>{{cite news |title=Energy minister's spouse quits post |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=October 20, 1990 |page=A8}}</ref>
In November 1990, Carter announced that the government was putting a freeze on the construction of nuclear plants. She told Ontario Hydro to divert $240 million earmarked for site preparation for new nuclear plants to instead be used for energy conservation efforts. Carter, who earlier said in a speech to the house that she was an anti-nuclear activist, declared, "We cannot afford to keep building power stations at $25 billion each." She promised to give priority to new hydroelectric and natural gas projects.<ref>{{cite news |title=NDP softens tough anti-nuke stand |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=November 30, 1990 |page=A11}}</ref> Rather than a total ban, she said that she would await the outcome of a study of Ontario's energy needs for the next 25 years.<ref>{{cite news |first=Dennis |last=Bueckert |title=Ontario freeze on nuke plants irks Jake Epp |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=March 5, 1991 |page=B7}}</ref>
In March 1991, Carter announced that the government would switch heating in public housing projects to gas from electricity. She said, "installing gas heating in new non-profit homes will save 100 megawatts."<ref>{{cite news |title=Public units switch to gas for heating |newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen |date=March 13, 1991 |page=A5}}</ref>
In July 1991, Carter was dropped from cabinet. Critics said that she failed to establish herself as energy minister. She was replaced by Will Ferguson.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Matt |last1=Maychak |first2=Paul |last2=Moloney |title=Rae dumps 3 ministers, shuffles in 3 rookies |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=July 31, 1991 |page=A1}}</ref> For the remainder of her term, she served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Citizenship.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
In 1995, Carter lost to Progressive Conservative Gary Stewart in her bid for re-election.<ref name="1995 results">{{cite web |url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1995_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=36&rec=0&district=peterborough&flag=E&layout=G |title=Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=June 8, 1995 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319192248/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1995_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=36&rec=0&district=peterborough&flag=E&layout=G |archive-date=March 19, 2014}}</ref>
===Cabinet positions=== {{s-start}} {{Canadian cabinet member navigational box header |ministry=Bob_Rae}} {{ministry box cabinet posts | post1preceded = Lyn McLeod | post1 = Minister of Energy | post1years = 1990–1991 | post1note = | post1followed = Will Ferguson }} {{s-end}}
==After politics== Since leaving politics, Carter has contributed occasional articles to the ''Peterborough Collective'' and has served on the Peterborough NDP riding association executive. She married climate change activist Ken Ranney, co-founder of the Stop Climate Change political party.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 15, 2018 |title=Stop Climate Change party fielding 88-year-old candidate in Peterborough-Kawartha riding |url=https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news/peterborough-region/2018/05/15/stop-climate-change-party-fielding-88-year-old-candidate-in-peterborough-kawartha-riding.html |access-date=March 15, 2022 |website=thepeterboroughexaminer.com |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Ontario MPP biography|id=jenny-carter}}
{{Rae Ministry}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Jenny}} Category:1931 births Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education Category:Canadian anti–nuclear power activists Category:Canadian educators Category:Canadian women educators Category:Women government ministers of Canada Category:English emigrants to Canada Category:Living people Category:Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Category:Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs Category:People from Worcester Park Category:People from Peterborough, Ontario Category:Trent University alumni Category:Women MPPs in Ontario Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians