Barry McFarland is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta

Legislative Assembly of Alberta

The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...

 representing the constituency of Little Bow

Little Bow (electoral district)

Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...

 as a Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta

The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...

.

Early life

McFarland was born and raised near Carmangay. He is a graduate of the business administration program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

-Academics:SAIT Polytechnic offers two full baccalaureate degrees , four applied degrees, 66 diploma and certificate programs, 32 apprenticeship trades and 1,600 continuing education and corporate training courses....

 (SAIT) in Calgary. After graduating, he worked in retail credit for Gulf Canada Resources Limited. Since 1972, McFarland and his wife Mary have operated a dryland grain farm near Carmangay.

Political career

McFarland was first elected in a 1992 by-election, when incumbent Raymond Speaker

Raymond Speaker

Raymond Albert "Ray" Speaker, PC, OC is a farmer and Canadian politician.Speaker was born and raised in Enchant, Alberta where he farms to this day...

 resigned to run for a federal seat. He won the by-election in a tight race, winning by only 262 votes over the Liberal

Alberta Liberal Party

The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...

 candidate. It was the closest that the Liberals had come to winning the riding in 70 years. However, McFarland has never faced another election nearly that close.

He was elected to a sixth term in the 2008 provincial election, receiving 58 percent of the vote. He currently sits on the Standing Committee on the Economy and the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing.

During his five previous terms in office, McFarland sat on numerous committees and chaired the Standing Policy Committee on Agriculture and Municipal Affairs; Alberta Agricultural Research Institute; Standing Policy Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development; Premier's Council in Support of Alberta Families; Prisoner Voting Committee; and Industrial Assessment Review Committee. During his fifth term, McFarland was Associate Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation.

Before entering provincial politics, McFarland was involved in municipal government. He was first elected as a councillor for the County of Vulcan in 1977. Between 1977 and 1992, McFarland served his community in a series of positions, including reeve, school trustee, chair of the Board of Education, and trustee and chair for the Little Bow Auxiliary Hospital.

McFarland was also involved with a number of municipal and agricultural committees, including the Municipal Planning Commission and the Carmangay Seed Cleaning Plant Association.

Personal life

McFarland lives outside Carmangay, Alberta, with his wife, Mary. The couple has four adult children.

He was inducted onto the Palliser Regional Schools Wall of Fame in 2007. His involvement with community groups has included the Carmangay Curling Club, Vulcan Atletika Track Club and local chapters of the Lions Club and the Royal Canadian Legion

Royal Canadian Legion

The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization founded in 1925, with more than 400,000 members worldwide. Membership includes people who have served as current and former military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, direct relatives of...

.

Election results

2008 Alberta general election results ( Little Bow Little Bow (electoral district) Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...  )			font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 43.8%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Barry McFarland	5,144	58%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Everett Tanis	1,078	12%	Wildrose Alliance Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta The Wildrose Party, formerly Wildrose Alliance Party, is a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It includes free market conservative, libertarian and socially conservative factions and was formed in 2008 following a merger of the Wildrose Party of Alberta and the Alberta...	Kevin Kinahan	2,057	23%	Green Green Party of Alberta The Green Party of Alberta, also known as the Alberta Greens, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada.The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990...	Marie Read	266	3%	NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Duane Petluk	322	4%
2004 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 2004 The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....  results ( Little Bow Little Bow (electoral district) Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...  )			font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 45.8%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Barry McFarland	4,899	54.2%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Arij Langstraat	1,961	21.7%	Alberta Alliance	Jay Phin	857	9.5%	NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Hugh Logie	328	3.6%	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Alberta The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....	Brian Cook	554	6.1%	Separation Party Separation Party of Alberta The Separation Party of Alberta is a political party that advocates the secession of Alberta from Canada. Its leader is Bruce Hutton.-History:...	Grant Shaw	433	4.8%
2001 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 2001 The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....  results ( Little Bow Little Bow (electoral district) Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...  )			font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 56.7%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Barry McFarland	6,881	64.8%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Arij Langstraat	2,534	23.9%	NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Andrea Enes	319	3.0%	Independent	Jon Koch	885	8.3%
1997 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 1997 The Alberta general election of 1997 was the twenty-fourth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 11, 1997 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....  results ( Little Bow Little Bow (electoral district) Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...  )			font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 54.0%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Barry McFarland	6,726	69.5%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Alida Hess	2.075	21.5%	NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Marko Hilgersom	868	9.0%
1993 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 1993 The Alberta general election of 1993 was the twenty-third general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on June 15, 1993 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...  results ( Little Bow Little Bow (electoral district) Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...  )			font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 66.3%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Barry McFarland	6,709	67.2%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Donna Graham	2,866	28.9%	NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Rod Lachmuth	382	3.8%
1992 Alberta by-election results ( Little Bow Little Bow (electoral district) Little Bow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The district, named after the Little Bow River, was created in 1913 from the north-west corner of Lethbridge District and the eastern portions of Okotoks, High River, Nanton and Claresholm...  )			font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 61.0%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Barry McFarland	1,966	35.2%	Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...	Donna Graham	1,704	30.5%	NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...	Ruth Scalplock	601	10.8%	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Alberta The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....	Al Strom	521	9.3%	C.o.R. Confederation of Regions Party of Canada The Confederation of Regions Party was a right-wing Canadian political party founded in 1984 by Elmer Knutson. It was founded as a successor to the Western Canada Federation , a non-partisan organization, to fight the Liberal Party of Canada...	Dean Oseen	394	7.1%	Alliance Alberta Alberta Party The Alberta Party Political Association, more commonly known as the Alberta Party, is a political party in the province of Alberta, Canada...	Larry Haller	399	7.1%