John Nater

John Nater MP
Member of 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	(1984-02-14) February 14, 1984 West Perth, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Justine Nater (m. 2013)
Children	3
Residence	Mitchell, Ontario
Alma mater	Carleton University (2007) Queen's University (2008)

John Nater MP (born February 14, 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.

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. While attending Carleton University, he worked as a volunteer intern for MP Gary Schellenberger, and later became his special assistant. He later became an executive assistant to MPP Randy Pettapiece. He also worked as a grievance analyst with the Correctional Service of Canada and policy analyst at the Treasury Board of Canada.

Nater earned degrees as a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton in 2007, as well as a Master of Public Administration from Queen's University in 2008. From 2012 to 2014, he was a lecturer at King's University College. When nominated to run for MP in November 2014, he had been a PhD candidate at Western University in political science.

Municipal politics

In the 2010 Ontario municipal election, Nater was elected to the West Perth council 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.

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, and was elected in the 2015 Canadian federal election with 22,255 votes (42.9%).

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. 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.

During the 42nd Canadian Parliament, Nater earned a reputation as an expert on parliamentary procedure.

On March 23, 2017, Nater made an intervention in the House of Commons on the Question of Privilege raised a day earlier by his Conservative colleague Lisa Raitt. Nater argued there was sufficient grounds for a prima facie question of privilege. On April 6, 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.

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"

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.

On August 30, 2017, Official Opposition leader Andrew Scheer named Nater to be Shadow Minister for Interprovincial Trade and the Sharing Economy.

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

On January 28, 2019, Nater introduced a bill to amend the Criminal Code of Canada. 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.

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-placed Liberal candidate.

43rd Canadian Parliament

From November 28, 2019, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer appointed Nater the Official Opposition Deputy House Leader to work under Opposition House Leader Candice Bergen (politician). Nater held the position until September 2, 2020 when new leader Erin O'Toole replaced him with Karen Vecchio.

On September 8, 2020, O'Toole named Nater to be Shadow Minister for Rural Economic Development. During this time Nater was actively critical of the Liberal record on rural internet service.

2021 election

Nater won his second re-election campaign in the 2021 Canadian federal election, again increasing his share of the vote.

44th Canadian Parliament

On November 9, 2021, Nater was named Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage. During this time Nater was critical of the Liberal Government's Online Streaming Act. Nater was also involved in the Heritage Committee work on the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal.

During the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, Nater endorsed Jean Charest, former premier of Quebec and cabinet minister during the premierships of Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell, and was among four Conservative MPs to sign an open letter asking Charest to run. In the contest Charest came second to Pierre Poilievre. On October 12, 2022, when Poilievre named his new shadow cabinet, Nater was not included.

In October 2022, Nater returned to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and was elected Vice Chair. He was involved in the committee hearings on Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections and the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution.

In September 2023 Nater moved to Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts. During this time he focused on reviewing reports of the Auditor General of Canada including the critical ArriveCAN report.

From March 2022 to May 2023, Nater worked with Ontario Senator Robert Black (Canadian politician) to pass Bill S-227, the Food Day Canada Act, in honour of Wellington County food activist Anita Stewart (culinary author)

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Nater	26,984	48.6	+2.3
	Liberal	Brendan Knight	13,684	24.7	-2.4
	New Democratic	Kevin Kruchkywich	9,552	17.2	+2.6
	People's	Wayne Baker	5,357	9.5	+7.9
Total valid votes			55,577	99.3
Total rejected ballots			380	0.7
Turnout			55,957	65.8
Eligible voters			85,049
	Conservative hold		Swing		+2.4
Source: Elections Canada

2019 Canadian federal election: Perth—Wellington
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	John Nater	25,622	46.34	+3.42	$73,230.45
	Liberal	Pirie Mitchell	15,002	27.13	-10.44	$48,553.60
	New Democratic	Geoff Krauter	8,094	14.64	-0.32	$19,103.41
	Green	Collan Simmons	4,949	8.95	+6.35	none listed
	People's	Roger Fuhr	894	1.62	+1.19	$583.54
	Christian Heritage	Irma DeVries	733	1.33	-0.21	$9,547.05
Total valid votes			55,294	99.32
Total rejected ballots			381	0.68	+0.33
Turnout			55,675	66.68	-1.35
Eligible voters			83,501
	Conservative hold		Swing		+6.93
Source: Elections Canada

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. S2CID 143769225.

External links

• John Nater – Parliament of Canada biography
• "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.
• "How it all started for John Nater (BPAPM '07)". carleton.ca. Arthur Kroeger College, Carleton University. July 18, 2017., drawing from Aiello, Rachel (July 10, 2017). "How a farm boy from Logan Township became one of the biggest procedural nerds in the House". The Hill Times. Ottawa.