William Walter Barlow (February 20, 1931 – July 5, 2020) was a Canadian politician in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1981 to 1987, as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Background

Barlow was born in Galt (now

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

), Ontario. He was educated at Galt Business College, and served as president of a trucking company.

Politics

Barlow was a city alderman for ten years. He first campaigned for the Ontario legislature in the 1977 provincial election, and lost to

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

incumbent Monty Davidson in the

constituency by 554 votes. He ran again in the 1981 election, and defeated Davidson by 849 votes. The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government, and Barlow served in the legislature as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

supporter of the

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

and

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...

administrations. He was re-elected in the 1985 election, defeating NDP candidate Alec Dufresne by 903 votes. The PCs fell to a minority government in this election, and were soon defeated in the legislature. In opposition, Barlow served as his party's critic for Transportation and Communications and Small Business. The Progressive Conservatives fell to 16 seats out of 130 in the 1987 election. Barlow finished third in Cambridge, losing to Mike Farnan of the New Democratic Party.

Later life

Barlow was appointed to the Cambridge Art Theatre Management Committee in 2005. Barlow died at home on July 5, 2020, at the age of 89.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Bill 1931 births 2020 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario