Acknowledged as one of Canada’s most thoughtful and respected economists, his contributions track the historical circumstances and political context in which economic policy was formed. Clarence Barber is Professor Emeritus of the University of Manitoba, and a former University Distinguished Professor of the University of Manitoba. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, this country’s highest recognition of scholarly excellence. In 1988 he received an honorary degree from the University of Guelph and a month later the Order of Canada.
Dr. Barber implemented Canada’s Royal Commission on Farm Machinery in the late sixties; he served as Commissioner on Welfare Review for the Province of Manitoba in 1972, and he was a member of the Royal Commission on Canada’s Economic Union and Development Prospects. Professor Barber has had a remarkably successful academic career, publishing some seminal pieces and is the only member of the Economics Department at the University of Manitoba to have ever served as President of the Canadian Economics Association.
Dr. Barber was Economic Advisor and Director of Research for the Manitoba Royal Commission Flood Cost-Benefit from 1957 – 1959. Without his careful study, and persuasive evidence, the floodway might not have become the protector of the City of Winnipeg against the flood waters.
