James Alexander Barry (January 13, 1886 – May 21, 1950) was a politician in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

from 1936 to 1941 as a member of the Conservative Party. Barry was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, the son of Michael Joseph Barry and Ellen Curless, who had come to Manitoba from

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

in 1879. He was educated at St. Mary's and Immaculate Conception Schools. Barry worked for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

as head clerk of the superintendent's office in Winnipeg. He served on Winnipeg city council from 1921 to 1925. In 1927, he married Delmar Erickson. He first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1932 provincial election, in the constituency of

. At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members via a

single transferable ballot The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vo ...

. Barry finished seventeenth on the first count, as was defeated on transfers. He fared better in the 1936 election, finishing sixth on the first count and securing election on the sixteenth. The Conservatives lost this election to the Liberal-Progressives, and Barry served on the opposition benches for the next four years. In 1940, the Conservatives joined with the Liberal-Progressives and two other parties in a wartime

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

. Barry supported the coalition, and served as a government backbencher. Running for re-election in the 1941 election, Barry finished ninth on the first count but fared poorly on transfers. He was eliminated after the eighteenth tally. He died in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

at the age of 64.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, James 1886 births 1950 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs Winnipeg city councillors 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba