Barrie, Ontario
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. ()It is the
county seat of
Simcoe County. The Barrie CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) population is estimated at 175,000 in 2006.
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 Kempenfelt 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 who
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, as a result there are numerous winter recreation activities and facilities in the surrounding area, including skiing and snowboarding resorts, snowmobile trails and ice fishing. =History of Barrie=
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.
=Twinnings/Friendships=
*
Zweibrücken, Germany since 1996
*
Murayama, Japan
*
Taizhou, China since 2006=Politics=
*see
List of mayors of Barrie, OntarioBelow is a list of the federal Members of Parliament for the ridings that Barrie has been part of.
Below is a list of the Members of Provincial Parliament for the ridings that Barrie has been part of 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=
=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.
PopulationRacial StructureFrom 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 opportunities.
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
|
Barrie in relation to other North American cities |
*
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{{Canadian City Geographic Location|North=
Midland,
Orillia |West=
Stayner,
Angus,
Wasaga Beach|Center=Barrie|East=
Kempenfelt Bay|South=
Innisfil,
Alliston
