Pat Carney, who pioneered roles for women in Canadian politics and journalism, has died at the age of 88.

Her niece, Jill Carney, confirmed in a statement that the former MP and senator passed away Tuesday.

Pat Carney was the first female Conservative member of Parliament elected in B.C. and the first female Conservative appointed from the province to the Senate.

Born in Shanghai, China, in May 1935, Carney was educated in Canada and worked as a journalist and economic consultant in the Northwest Territories and Yukon before entering politics.

She was first elected to the House of Commons in February 1980 in the riding of Vancouver Centre.

Her website says she began her journalism career in the 1960s and was the first female business columnist writing for daily newspapers, including the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province.

It says Carney was also the first woman in every government portfolio she held, serving as the minister of energy, minister of international trade and president of the Treasury Board in Brian Mulroney害羞草研究所檚 cabinet.

Carney also pioneered the development of distance learning, and in 1977 received a B.C. Institute of Technology award for innovation in education.

After retiring from politics, Carney continued to contribute to newspapers. Last year, she wrote about 害羞草研究所渢he most chilling moment害羞草研究所� of her political career, when she voted against her own government害羞草研究所檚 anti-abortion bill in 1991.

The bill came within a single vote of being enshrined in law.

害羞草研究所淭here was no doubt about how I would vote. I had told my voters that I believed a decision on an abortion was the right of a woman, her conscience and her doctors,害羞草研究所� she wrote in the Globe and Mail.

害羞草研究所淔or personal reasons, I would not have an abortion, but that was my choice; I knew other women had their own reasons to make a different one.害羞草研究所�

Carney said in her 2007 farewell speech to the Senate that her favourite story about entering politics came when she tried to shake the hand of an elderly woman in downtown Vancouver in 1979.

害羞草研究所淭he benign-looking senior snatched her hand away and snapped viciously: 害羞草研究所業 would rather my hand withered and dropped off before shaking hands with a Conservative.害羞草研究所� She then walked away,害羞草研究所� Carney said.

Carney was a mother of two and lived on Saturna Island, one of B.C.害羞草研究所檚 Gulf Islands.

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