Barrie

Fireworks over Kempenfelt Bay during Barrie's Canada Day celebrations.

For the electoral district see Barrie (electoral district)

Barrie, Ontario (2006 population 125,000) is located on Kempenfelt Bay, an arm of Lake Simcoe in Central Ontario, Canada. (44°22′48″N 79°40′48″W) It is the county seat of Simcoe County.

The city's north and south ends are separated by a deep valley which contains the downtown area as well as Kempenfelt Bay. Barrie's waterfront is at the heart of its tourism industry, with events like the Kempenfest arts and crafts festival attracting more than 300,000 people. Unique recreational activities, include skiing at nearby Horseshoe Valley, Snow Valley, and Blue Mountain, as well as boating in Kampenfelt Bay. At the north end of Barrie is the Highway 11 and Highway 400 interchange. Many consider this the gateway to Ontario resort destinations north in cottage country, and is represented by the 400ELEVEN icon [1]for travel north in Ontario.

Barrie is home to the main campus of Georgian College, with 5,000 full-time students and over 10,000 part-time students. As a result, many of the bars and clubs in downtown Barrie are filled with students during the school year.

Barrie is also home to the MacLaren Art Centre, an innovative art gallery that supports the visual arts in Simcoe County. It inspired the "Art City" project, which has had many different large sculptures installed around the city. These can be found in parks and along the scenic waterfront.

Several manufacturers are currently located in Barrie and Canadian Forces Base Borden is nearby. In recent years Barrie has become a bedroom community, for people to commute to Toronto, which is approximately 100km south of Barrie, or (more often) to the northern suburbs of Toronto in York Region.

Barrie is located in Ontario's snowbelt region. Lake effect snowfalls throughout the winter provide an average 238 centimetres (95 inches) of snowfall annually.

Barrie's official town crier is currently Steve Travers [2]. The position of town crier was reinstated in 2003 as part of Barrie's sesquicentennial celebrations.

and its friendship city is Murayama, Japan.

Twinnings/Friendships

Twinnings

• Zweibrücken, Germany since 1996

Friendships

• Murayama, Japan
• Taizhou, China since 2006

Politics

Mayors

Term	Mayor
2003-2006	Robert J. Hamilton
2001-2003	Jim Perri
1989-2000	Janice R. Laking
1977-1988	Ross A. Archer
1973-1976	Dorian Parker
1970-1972	Lester E. Cooke
1968-1969	R. S. Bentley
1962-1967	Lester E. Cooke
1957-1961	Willard L. Kinzie
1955-1956	R. Eldon Greer
1954	Herbert Smith
1953	James W. Hart
1951-1952	Marjorie Hamilton
1950	Edwin Wilson
1947-1949	Grant Mayor
1945-1946	Peter Sinclair
1942-1944	Donald F. Maclaren, Q.C.
1936-1941	H. G. Robertson
1935	W. J. Blair
1932-1934	John F. Craig
1928-1931	Duncan F. McQuaig
1927	Walter Duff
1927	Wiliam Lowe
1924-1926	John F. Craig
1921-1923	John Little
1918-1920	Robert J. Sprot
1915-1917	John F. Craig
1912-1914	Alex Cowan
1910-1911	Thomas Beecroft
1909	James Vair
1907-1908	John H. Bennett
1905-1906	Donald Ross
1902-1904	W. Boys
1900-1901	G. A. Radenhurst
1897-1899	S. M. Wells
1895-1896	J. M. Bothwell
1892-1894	A. E. J. Creswicke
1889-1891	F. E. P. Pepler, Q.C.
1887-1888	C. H. Ross
1882-1886	Henry Sewery
1877-1881	W. D. Ardagh
1876	Robert Simpson
1873-1875	William Boy
1871-1872	Robert Simpson

Reeves

Term	Reeve
1864-1870	W. D. Ardagh
1859-1863	Thomas D. McConkey
1858	Robert Simpson
1857	Henry B. Hopkins
1856	David Morrow
1855	Thomas D. McConkey
1854	Jonathan Lane

Federal Representation

Below is a list of the federal members of parliament for the ridings that Barrie has been in since 1968.

Parliament	Date elected	Member of Parliament	Party
39	2006/01/23	BROWN, Patrick	Conservative
38	2004/06/28	CARROLL, Aileen	Liberal
37	2000/11/27	CARROLL, Aileen	Liberal
36	1997/06/02	CARROLL, Aileen	Liberal
35	1993/10/25	HARPER, Ed	Reform
34	1988/11/21	ANDERSON, Edna	Progressive Conservative
33	1984/09/04	STEWART, Ronald A.	Progressive Conservative
32	1980/02/18	STEWART, Ronald A.	Progressive Conservative
31	1979/05/22	STEWART, Ron	Progressive Conservative
30	1974/07/08	RYNARD, P.B.	Progressive Conservative
29	1972/10/30	RYNARD, P.B.	Progressive Conservative
28	1968/06/25	RYNARD, P.B.	Progressive Conservative
27	1965/11/08	SMITH, Heber	Progressive Conservative
26	1963/04/08	SMITH, Heber	Progressive Conservative
25	1962/06/18	SMITH, Heber	Progressive Conservative
24	1958/03/31	SMITH, Heber	Progressive Conservative
23	1957/06/10	SMITH, Heber	Progressive Conservative
22	1953/08/10	FERGUSON, Julian H.	Progressive Conservative
21	1949/06/27	FERGUSON, Julian H.	Progressive Conservative

Provincial Representation

Below is a list of the members of provincial parliament for the ridings that Barrie has been in since 1968.

Election Date	Candidate	Party
2003/10/02	JOE TASCONA	Progressive Conservative
1999/06/03	JOE TASCONA	Progressive Conservative
1995/06/08	JOE TASCONA	Progressive Conservative

Sports Teams

Club	League	Venue	Established	Championships
Barrie Colts	OHL Hockey	Barrie Molson Centre	1995	1
Barrie Baycats	IBL Baseball	Barrie Metals Stadium	2001	1

History of Barrie

Barrie is situated in Central Ontario, Canada

Barrie at its inception was a train station, which is now disconnected. The city was named in 1832 after Sir Robert Barrie, who was in charge of the naval forces in Canada and frequently had to portage from Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay through the city. The Underground Railroad in the mid 1800s caused many American slaves to enter Barrie. This contributed to the development (and the name) of nearby Shanty Bay. During World War II the Royal Canadian Navy named a Flower class corvette HMCS Barrie.

On 27 September 1977, in dense fog, a small plane hit the 68 meter tall CKVR Television Tower, knocking CHAY FM and CKVR-TV off the air. All on the aircraft were killed, and the tower was destroyed. A new 304 metre tower was erected and operational within a year.

On 31 May, 1985, an F4 tornado struck Barrie, see United States-Canadian Outbreak for full details.

On 12 June - 13 June 1987, a sculpture called Spirit Catcher by Ron Baird was moved to Barrie from Vancouver, British Columbia, where it had been exhibited as part of Expo '86. The sculpture was erected permanently at the foot of Maple Avenue on the shore of Kempenfelt Bay.

In January of 2004, Barrie made international news when its city police raided the former Molson brewery, and found Canada's largest illegal cannabis grow operation.

Barrie's Park Place (formerly Molson Park) was chosen to host Live 8 Canada on 2 July, 2005. The success of the concert contributed to the resistance to a plan to convert the concert area to a commercial district.

Barrie in relation to other North American cities

Demographics

The 2001 census agglomeration found that Barrie has 150,000 residents. The city grows at an average 5% a year as it attracts people from all over Ontario. It is currently one of Canada's fastest growing cities.

Population

Year	Population
2001	103,710
1996	79,191
1991	62,728
1981	38,423

Racial Structure

From the years 1996 to 2001, the city of Barrie has seen phenomenal growth. According to StatCan, the city grew by 25.1 per cent, the fastest in the province of Ontario. This is due to both the young population profile, and a growing number of Canadians moving into the city for economic and technological oppurtunities.

In 2001, some 23 per cent of the population is under 14, while 10.9 per cent of the population is of retirement age. The city is overwhelmingly populated with those of white backgrounds - 94.5%, mostly of British Isles, French, German, Dutch, and Italian origins. The remainder is as follows: Aboriginal: 1.3%, Black: 1.0%, mixed: 1.0%, and Asian: 0.7%.

Religious Groups

• 47.0% Protestant
• 27.9% Roman Catholic
• 3.4% other Christian
• 0.32% Jewish
• 0.3% Muslim
• 21.08% other, non-professing

External links

• Official City of Barrie Website
• Barrie Tourism
• Ontario Plaques - Andrew Frederick Hunter
• Ontario Plaques - Hewitt Bernard
• Ontario Plaques - Nine Mile Portage
• Ontario Plaques - Simcoe County Court-House and Gaol
• Ontario Plaques - Steamboating on Lake Simcoe