Former senator, MP, journalist Pat Carney is dead at the age of 88

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

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 late Tuesday.

Pat Carney was the first female Conservative member of Parliament elected in British Columbia 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.

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.

She would later tell the Senate in her 2007 retirement speech that she never intended to get into politics.

"As a journalist, I sat in the press gallery ... looking down literally and figuratively on the MPs while Dief the Chief jiggled his jowls," she said, referring to former prime minister John Diefenbaker.