Like his predecessor Chris Stockwell, Carr was known as an impartial Speaker who was willing to criticize his own government. In 2003, he alienated several members of the Progressive Conservative Party by ruling that the government of Ernie Eves had committed a prima facie act of contempt against the legislature by holding its budget announcement at the headquarters of Magna International, rather than in the legislature itself. He was critical of the direction taken by the Progressive Conservative Party in this period, and did not seek re-election in 2003. He left politics and briefly coached the London Racers hockey team in London, UK.