Barry Penner was raised in
Chilliwack. His grandparents settled in the area about 70 years ago. Barry's parents, now retired, operated Aslan’s Apples hobby farm in
Sardis until a few years ago. Barry has one sister (a teacher) and one brother (an electrician). Barry is married to Daris, who is from
Yale, BC.
Barry has served as a BC Liberal MLA since 1996. Barry was re-elected in 2001 and 2005 to represent Chilliwack-Kent, and re-elected again in 2009 to represent Chilliwack-Hope. He believes it's important for the province to carefully manage both its finances and environment. Barry has voted in favour of additional funding for health care and education in the legislature, and supports tougher measures to combat crime. When Barry was first elected to the BC Legislature for the electoral district of Chilliwack in 1996, he was the youngest member of the BC Liberal Official Opposition. Barry quickly gained recognition and respect for his hard work and strategic representations on behalf of local residents. For example, he helped lead the succesful fight against the Sumas Energy 2, Inc. (SE2) power plant, which would have added 2.5 tonnes of air pollution every day into the
Fraser
Valley. This experience led Barry to advocate for clean, renewable energy projects in BC. Today, billions of dollars are being invested across the province to increase our energy independence and provide 'green' jobs, while reducing emissions.
Barry also helped rally community support which ultimately resulted in construction of the new Chilliwack Courthouse. He then played a role in bringing ‘AMBER Alert’ to BC, by introducing a motion in the Legislature calling on the BC Government to implement a coordinated communications system to assist police in safely returning abducted children to their parents. The motion passed in 2003, and the 'AMBER Alert' system became operational in 2004. Barry has also promoted the expanded use of
Canada's DNA database to help identify and catch convicted criminals. His personal experiences as a park ranger and outdoor enthusiast has driven him to protect our environment. As noted, he has been a keen advocate for small-hydro, wind power and other new energy sources. Barry was co-chair of the Alternative Energy and Power Technology task force, which provided advice on how
British Columbia can pursue economic opportunities by meeting world energy needs in an environmentally responsible manner.
Barry was appointed by Premier Campbell in 2001 to lead BC's delegation to the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER). He served as PNWER's vice-president before becoming President in June 2002. Barry continues to be actively involved in PNWER activities bringing BC’s perspective directly to legislative leaders in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, as well as Alberta and
Yukon.
Barry attended
Sardis
Secondary School and
Fraser
Valley
College in
Chilliwack. He then went on to
Simon
Fraser
University and completed a Bachelor's degree after studying government and economics. After graduating from law school at the
University of
Victoria, Barry returned to
Chilliwack in 1992 to practice law with a local firm.
Barry has a wide range of work experience. He has fought forest fires in the mountains near Chilliwack and Harrison, and later Barry worked as a Park Ranger at
Cultus
Lake and
Manning
Park. In 1988, Barry went to
Ottawa and spent several months working for what is now the Canadian Space Agency. In 1989, as a Legislative Intern in
Victoria, Barry worked in the Trade Policy branch and later as an assistant to elected MLAs. In 1991, Barry worked at an international law firm in Bangkok, Thailand and became convinced that BC has many opportunities for trade in the dynamic
Pacific Rim region. Upon his return to BC, Barry worked as a lawyer in
Chilliwack until 1996.
Barry Penner was appointed Minister of Environment on June 16, 2005 and is also Minister responsible for Climate Action. As minister, he has required
Victoria to prepare a plan for sewage treatment, and has presented legislation to establish more parks and conservancies, and to more than double fines and penalties for people who violate wildlife laws. Barry has also worked with
California and other jurisdictions to establish a 'cap and trade' system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in keeping with legislation he introduced in 2007 to reduce BC's emissions by 33% by 2020. Barry was also appointed as Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation on October 25, 2010.
