John Nater

John Nater MP (born 1984) is a Canadian politician. He is currently serving as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Perth—Wellington in the House of Commons of Canada.

John Nater MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Perth—Wellington
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Gary Schellenberger
West Perth Municipal Councillor
In office December 1, 2010 – December 1, 2014
Constituency	Mitchell Ward
Personal details
Born	1984 West Perth, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Justine Nater (m. 2013)
Children	3
Residence	Mitchell, Ontario
Alma mater	Carleton University (2007) Queen's University (2008)

Education and early life

Nater was born in Logan Township (now part of the Township of West Perth), and raised on a family pig farm. He attended Carleton University from 2003 to 2007 and earned a bachelor's degree in public policy and administration. After graduation, he subsequently received a master's degree in public policy at Queen's University in 2008. During this time Nater volunteered and later became special assistant to MP Gary Schellenberger.

Municipal Politics

In the 2010 Ontario municipal election, Nater was elected to the Council of the Municipality of West Perth as a representative for the Mitchell Ward. During his time on municipal council Nater served as chair of the Environmental Services Committee. In 2014 the committee began a project to build a new water tower in Mitchell.[1]

He did not run for re-election in the subsequent municipal election, as he planned to seek the Conservative nomination for Perth-Wellington, vacated due to the impending retirement of long-serving MP Gary Schellenberger.

Federal Politics

2015 Election

Nater won the nomination,[2] and was elected in the 2015 Canadian Federal Election with 22,255 votes (42.9%).[3][4]

42nd Canadian Parliament

From February 17, 2016 to September 18, 2017 Nater served as Vice Chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.[5] During this time he was critical of the Liberal Government's decision to nominate Madeleine Meilleur as Official Languages Commissioner. Nater frequently called the nomination partisan and questioned the Liberal Government's appointments process.[6]

During the 42nd Canadian Parliament Nater earned a reputation as an expert on Parliamentary Procedure.[7]

On March 23, 2017 Nater made an intervention in the House of Commons on the Question of Privilege raised a day earlier by Lisa Raitt and Maxime Bernier. Nater argued there was sufficient grounds for a Prima Facie question of privilege. On April 6, 2017 Speaker Geoff Regan ruled there was. However, during debate on the motion following the ruling the Liberal MP Alexandra Mendès moved a motion to proceed to orders of the day, ending the debate and with it the opportunity to address a violation of Members' rights.[8]

On April 7, 2017 Nater made another intervention asking the Speaker to revive the previous motion. Citing extensively from previous speakers rulings and the rules of parliamentary procedure Nater argued that the Government's motion to move to orders of the day during a debate on a motion of privilege "is an extremely dangerous precedent that denies members their fundamental right to vote" [9]

On April 11, 2017 Regan ruled in favour of Nater and invited him to once again move a motion to refer the issue to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.[10]

On August 30, 2017 Nater was named Official Opposition Shadow Secretary for Interprovincial Trade and the Sharing economy.[11]

On September 19, 2017 Nater was named a member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

On January 28, 2019 Nater introduced a bill to amend the Criminal Code. Inspired by a criminal incident in Stratford, the intention of the bill was to better protect young people and people with disabilities from sexual exploitation.[12]

2019 Election

In the 2019 Canadian Federal Election Nater was re-elected with 25,622 votes, finishing more than 10,000 votes ahead of the second place Liberal candidate.[13]

43rd Canadian Parliament

On November 28, 2019 Nater was named Deputy House Leader of the Official Opposition.[14]

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Perth—Wellington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Nater	25,622	46.3	+3.4
	Liberal	Pirie Mitchell	15,002	27.1	-10.5
	New Democratic	Geoff Krauter	8,094	14.6	-0.4
	Green	Collan Simmons	4,949	9.0	+6.4
	People's Party	Roger Fuhr	894	1.6	+1.2
	Christian Heritage	Irma DeVries	733	1.3	-0.2
Total valid votes			55,294	100.0
Total rejected ballots			381	–
Turnout			55,675	67.1
Eligible voters			83,023
	Conservative hold		Swing
Source: Elections Canada[15]

2015 Canadian federal election: Perth—Wellington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Nater	22,255	42.9	-11.5
	Liberal	Stephen McCotter	19,480	37.6	+19.5
	New Democratic	Ethan Rabidoux	7,756	15.0	-6.3
	Green	Nicole Ramsdale	1,347	2.6	-2.0
	Christian Heritage	Irma DeVries	794	1.5	-0.2
	No affiliation	Roger Fuhr	219	0.4	–
Total valid votes			51,789	100.0
Total rejected ballots			–	–
Turnout			51,789	68.1%	+4.6%
Eligible voters			76,097
	Conservative hold		Swing		-15.5%
Source: Elections Canada

Further reading

Academic

• Brock, Kathy L.; Burbidge, Matthew P.J.; Nater, John L. (2010). "13: A Resilient State: The Federal Public Service, Challenges, Paradoxes, and a New Vision for the Twenty-First Century". In Dunn, Christopher (ed.). The Handbook of Canadian Public Administration (2nd ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19542983-1.
• Spicer, Zachary; Nater, John L. (2013). "Legislative Dissent without Reprisal? An Alternative View of Speaker Selection". The Journal of Legislative Studies. 19 (4): 505–525. doi:10.1080/13572334.2013.812356.

References

1. nurun.com. "Taps turned on at west end water tower". The Mitchell Advocate.
2. Laura Cudworth (November 9, 2014). "Mitchell's John Nater ready to build campaign team for next federal election". Stratford Beacon-Herald.
3. Rice, Steve. "Pupil takes over from teacher as local MP". Stratford Beacon Herald. Stratford Beacon Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
4. Rice, Steve. "Hard work won riding, Nater says". www.stratfordbeaconherald.com. Stratford Beacon Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
5. "LANG - Election of Vice-Chairs". www.parl.gc.ca.
6. "Publication Search". www.ourcommons.ca.
7. Times, The Hill (10 July 2017). "How a farm boy from Logan Township became one of the biggest procedural nerds in the House - The Hill Times". hilltimes.com.
8. "Debates (Hansard) No. 161 - April 6, 2017 (42-1) - House of Commons of Canada". www.parl.gc.ca.
9. "Debates (Hansard) No. 162 - April 7, 2017 (42-1) - House of Commons of Canada". www.parl.gc.ca.
10. "Debates (Hansard) No. 164 - April 11, 2017 (42-1) - House of Commons of Canada". www.parl.gc.ca.
11. "Team". conservative.ca.
12. https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-372/hansard#Int-10451263
13. https://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?lang=e
14. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/scheer-maintains-core-parliamentary-team-names-new-deputy-leader-1.4706423
15. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

External links

• "John Nater, M.P." johnnater.ca.
• "Members of Parliament: John Nater". parl.gc.ca.
• "Phd Students: John Nater". WesternU.ca. Department of Political Science, Western University.