Barry Devolin

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**Barry Devolin**

Incumbent
Riding	Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, (2004-present)
In office since	2004 federal election
Preceded by	District created
Born	March 10, 1963 Peterborough, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Ursula Beachli

Barry Devolin, BA, MA, MP (born March 10, 1963) is a Canadian politician. He is a current Member of Parliament serving the riding of Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock.

Barry Devolin was born in Peterborough and grew up in Haliburton. While in high school Devolin was selected as an International Exchange Student by the Haliburton Rotary Club to spend a year in the Netherlands. After his year abroad, Devolin wanted to become a diplomat and decided to move to Ottawa to study Political Science at Carleton University, where he graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in 1985. Two years later he received a Master's Degree in Political Science from State University Of New York at Stony Brook. In 1993 Barry married Ursula Beachli, they have two children, a son and daughter.

Devolin previously ran in the 1993 federal election as a member of the Reform Party in the riding of Victoria—Haliburton. Devolin placed second in the election, losing to John O'Reilly of the Liberals. Following the 1993 election, Devolin served as the Director of Research for the parliamentary caucus of the Reform Party. He spent time working in British Columbia and Korea, and in 1994 returned to Canada to assist Chris Hodgson to seek election to the Ontario Provincial Legislature for Haliburton-Victoria-Brock. After this, he served as Hodgson's Chief of Staff for a number of years, and then became a political consultant in Toronto.

Devolin did not seek the nomination in Haliburton-Victoria-Brock in the 1997 and 2000 elections. In 2004 he became the candidate for the new Conservative Party of Canada, and was elected in the 2004 election to represent the newly-redistributed riding of Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, which largely overlaps his former riding. He received 44% of the popular vote, defeating John O'Reilly of the Liberals. In the 2006 election Devolin was re-elected with 49% of the vote.

After being elected to Parliament Devolin created a non-partisan Farm Council in his riding to advise and inform him on agricultural issues. He also launched "The Capital Experience", a program that takes one or two students from each of the area’s seven high schools to Ottawa for three days to learn about career opportunities in public life.