Barry Mather

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name=Barry Mather

| birthname=

| image=Barry Mather.jpg

| caption=

| birth_date={{birth date|df=yes|1909|2|20}}

| birth_place=Condor, Alberta, Canada

| death_date={{death date and age|df=yes|1982|3|30|1909|2|20}}

| death_place=Nerja, Spain

| spouse=

| residence=

| parliament= Canadian

| constituency_MP=New Westminster

| predecessor=William McLennan

| successor=Douglas Hogarth

| term_start=September 1962

| term_end=June 1968

| parliament2= Canadian

| constituency_MP2=Surrey

| predecessor2=District was created in 1966

| successor2=District changed name in 1971 to Surrey—White Rock

| term_start2=June 1968

| term_end2=October 1972

| parliament3= Canadian

| constituency_MP3=Surrey—White Rock

| predecessor3=District changed name in 1971 from Surrey

| successor3=Benno Friesen

| term_start3=October 1972

| term_end3=May 1974

| profession=journalist

| party=New Democratic Party

| footnotes=

| religion=

| website=

|}}

Barry Mather (20 February 1909 – 30 March 1982) was a Canadian journalist, columnist, and politician.

Born in Condor, Alberta, he was a journalist for the Vancouver News Herald and a columnist with The Vancouver Sun before being elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1962 federal election for the British Columbia riding of New Westminster. A member of the New Democratic Party, he was re-elected in the 1963, 1965, 1968, and 1972 elections in the ridings of New Westminster, Surrey, and Surrey—White Rock.

In 1965, he was the first Member of Parliament to introduce a freedom of information bill as a private member's bill. Although it didn't pass, he would re-introduce the same legislation in every parliamentary session between 1968 and 1974. In 1983, an Access to Information Act would finally be passed.[http://www.atirtf-geai.gc.ca/report/reportAnnex8-e.html Access to Information: Making it Work for Canadians] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208060858/http://www.atirtf-geai.gc.ca/report/reportAnnex8-e.html |date=8 December 2004 }} Mather was also one of the first parliamentarians to call for restrictions on the sale of cigarettes; in 1969, he called for a ban on all cigarette advertising.Winnipeg Free Press, 17 January 1969, p. 6; Winnipeg Free Press, 7 February 1969, p. 7.

He was the co-author of the 1958 book, New Westminster, The Royal City. He was married to Camille Mather, a former Co-operative Commonwealth Federation member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the riding of Delta. They had two daughters: Mary and Jane.

He died of a heart attack during a vacation in Nerja in 1982.